Huey
There is most definitely a sting in this ‘tale” – maybe from the Scorpions? I have been following the saga of the circumstances surrounding the operation of the Huey in Cape Town, and have urgent need to comment. There has been such a lot of sucking up to Gary van der Merwe on this website that it is unbelievable. It is also quite clear that some of the contributors never read a newspaper, and that some don’t know a single thing about Helicopters, The Aviation Laws, or Safety. It is also clear that some of those same contributors should be writing children’s fairy stories.
The Huey operators appear to blame others for the fact that the CAA has grounded them, and for the bad press, (first Andy Cluver, and then Ernest Macdonald). However, any reasonably intelligent being would realise that they do not need any help from their neighbours to cast suspicion upon themselves. It is their own blatant disregard for the laws which has cast the spotlight upon them.
Mr van der Merwe has constantly appeared in the media over the past few years; Running an illegal gambling venue; Defrauding his investors; Attempting to carry R1.5 million in cash through the Airport; Crashing two Jet rangers on the V&A Helipad; Beating up some members of his staff; Bulldozing a sand dune in an ecologically sensitive area of Milnerton beach in order to extend his garden; Attempting to take foreign currency out of the Country through Cape Town Airport; Tax evasion; His ships were attached; His Jet rangers were repossessed; His Auditors resigned: and he is operating illegally out of an Industrial area next to the freeway; not to mention the fact that he has been flying a Grounded helicopter for 9 months now, and charging the passengers for the “pleasure” of flying with Private Pilots and no Insurance. He apparently has neither conscience nor sense of reality, as he appears to exist in his own private world where the law does not exist.
His second in command, Mr François Marais, apparently also has a fairly chequered history; as he forged an FAA Commercial pilots license and then attempted to use it to fly in this country; he was sentenced to community service for this, (at Ysterplaat; some punishment!) but he should have been banned from flying altogether and all the other private pilots who fly the grounded Huey should have their licences revoked.
Considering all the facts regarding the integrity of both Mr van der Merwe and Mr Marais, the two heads of the Huey “Club” operation, and Mr van der Merwe also being the main shareholder of Helicopter & Marine Services, which “hires” it’s helicopter to the Huey “Club” the burning question would be:- how did this Huey obtain it’s Certificate of Airworthiness in the first place?
Also considering that when WIN still owned it’s Jet rangers, they caused the first crash on the V&A Helipad by tying two helicopters together, and when the bank repossessed the remaining Helicopters, they were in a very sorry state: they were uninsured and had missing component cards, were sporting parts pirated from other helicopters and several Unserviceable parts; why would anyone imagine that the Huey would suddenly be run as a legal, airworthy and up-and-up business? And judging from the fact that their previous Auditors threw them out, what guarantees are there that the books are being kept correctly?
Seeing that the Huey is currently grounded due to missing component cards and legitimate records for certain parts, it follows that these records were never correct. At the time of the “club’s” inception, Mr Trevor Abrahams was the Commissioner of the CAA. This man needs no introduction, but perhaps he could be tracked down and asked how the Huey got its Airworthy in the first place? I have no doubt that Gary van der Merwe has the “Gift of the Gab”; all those sorry Investors prove it; how many CAA Inspectors are currently embarrassed over the fact that the Huey’s operation is not a “club” after all, and the Helicopter is unsafe?
The Huey “Club” grossly overloads their Helicopter, for which the law allows a maximum of 9 passengers (if they were operating legally). But they are regularly loading up to 16 passengers per flight.
They take off and land over water without either floats or life vests, contrary to the V&A Waterfront Helipad’s Standard Operating Procedures, which make Floats mandatory. Once they picked up a plastic bag on their rotors and they narrowly made it back to the pad Maverick style, what if they had come down in the water? On at least 2 occasions smoke was seen billowing out of the Helicopter and they had to land and have the passengers disembark in a hurry! They have had forced landings and engine outs more than once, and only one of these reached the media, thanks to the quick thinking of Ernest Macdonald of Sport. They reportedly had a cracked tail boom at a Stellenbosch air show, what was done about that? How many of these near misses have actually occurred since the “club’s” inception, and how many have actually been reported to the CAA?
They sell flights from the V&A Quayside in the same way as all of the legitimate Commercial Operators do. They are not recruiting Club members. The flight is a novelty, therefore a once-off trip.
The passengers receive a “certificate” after their flight, this has a “membership number” printed on it. Should that same “member” come back later and wish to fly again, he has to pay another fee, and receives yet another “certificate”, printed with a new “membership number”.
Having spoken to several of the passengers who have flown on the Huey, not one of them has ever received a newsletter; nor have they been asked to supply their addresses. Also, some of them have said that they did not even know that they were supposedly joining a “Club” until they had received their “certificate” after the flight. The whole scam is a farce.
They have no Public Liability Insurance on this Helicopter, and the passengers are signing away their legal rights on an indemnity form. Several Tour Operators have reported that they have asked the Huey “Club” for proof of Insurance, (which is standard practice for most Tour Operators, prior to booking their tourists for flights, etc), to no avail. What happens to the Helicopter operations in Cape Town after this man dumps his paying (foreign) tourists in the sea?
Private Pilots are flying fare paying passengers in contravention of several Aviation regulations.
As far as one can establish, neither The Huey Club, nor Gary van der Merwe, nor Helicopter and Marine Services has a valid Air Services License.
In his papers before the Court when the V&A Waterfront attempted to force him into complying with his Grounding Order, Gary van der Merwe stated (under oath) that he has 3000 hours flying time as a pilot on the Huey. At that time, he had owned the Huey for approximately 1 year. Thus 3000 hrs divided by 9 months over the year, works out to 333 hours per month, and therefore 11 hours per day. (Given the winter weather and all the times the Huey has been down and out of commission, and given that he did commercial work with the Huey at Chapman’s Peak for a month, and used Commercial pilots.) That means that he would need to fly the Helicopter as the sole pilot, every day, all day! Besides being impossible, this would also be illegal, as Pilots’ flying hours are strictly regulated for obvious reasons. Perhaps Mr van der Merwe could explain how he managed to obtain all these extra Huey flying hours? This is the way in which they continue to mislead the public and lie to the Court and the Judges.
In the V&A case he claimed that the Huey’s Main Rotor Grips have a mandatory life period of 9000 hours. This is definitely not true, the manufacturers of the Huey, Bell, give these Grips a life of 1200 hours or 2 years, whichever comes up first. Should the Helicopter not be flown for 1200 hours within the 2 year period, Bell will provide the owner with a pro rata rebate. In this Court case van der Merwe argued that Bell simply gives these component times in order to sell Aircraft parts. The fact is that the rebate is in place precisely to discourage the owner from attempting to continue using parts which are no longer deemed to be safe.
In the papers before the court for their Interdict Application to stop Ernest Macdonald from filming their illegal operations, Gary and Francois tell several blatant lies. (under oath) (As the case has run, this case is a matter of public record). One being that they claim to have flown rescue work as the Huey “club” for the NSRI. It is common knowledge that such bodies as the NSRI are governed by strict regulations, and therefore they would never be allowed to utilise a Helicopter without floats and specialised lifting equipment for sea rescue work. Gary has tried to mislead the Court, as the Huey “Club” has never been involved in any form of sea rescue work, they simply do not comply with the requirements.
In those same papers, Both Gary and Francois insist that the fact that their operation is illegal is “Irrelevant”. Yet that is the whole crux of the matter, and the reason for Macdonald’s filming! The fact that they and the Court do not find it relevant that they are operating illegally is frightening!
They continually tell anyone prepared to listen, that the Court ruled that the second Grounding Order was invalid. Anyone with reasonable intelligence would realise that this is yet another con. The second Grounding Order has not yet been challenged by van der Merwe. How could a Court rule over a Grounding Order which has not happened yet? Should the Traffic Department issue a motorist with a speeding fine, and the motorist overturns the fine in Court on a technicality, does this mean that the Traffic Department may never issue him with another speeding fine?
The Huey Operators’ constant attempts at fooling the public are beyond belief, and the fact that the Huey is still flying is also beyond belief. It is really high time that one of the legal operators in the Waterfront bought a Huey, and showed them how to do it, as it is a great machine, and it is criminal (no pun intended) to see how what was an excellent idea has been so badly abused.
The Huey had another Engine failure last week, and now has finally had one at the Airport where it could not be covered up, despite that ridiculous statement to the Cape Times this morning! Apparently, van der Merwe’s staff sneaked into the AMO’s hangar in the dead of night and stole the Huey’s engine, and when the CAA came to investigate the forced landing, there was no engine to investigate. What kind of behaviour is this? Why is this man not behind bars? So far he has been more than lucky; he has crashed and patched that Huey over the last 2 years, just keeping it going well enough to make more and more money, and has not yet crashed with paying passengers on board! Will this man only ever give up once he kills himself and a Huey full of passengers?
Seems quite a few ppruners have egg on their faces now. I cannot believe that so many (presumably Intelligent) people fell for van der Merwe’s lines, and no one, (besides me, and I’m just an interested spectator) actually ever bothered to investigate whether “Rotorhead” was speaking the truth or not way back in December 2002. And how many of you actually asked the other operators (Cluver & Macdonald) why they were so against the Huey Operator from the beginning – just accepted Gary’s story about jealousy. Maybe some of you are going to accept Gary’s story that they were “practicing” forced landings at the Airport?
I am aware that this is a rumour network, but seems as though some of those rumours are really far fetched – some of you should be writing children’s novels! Come on, altogether now, one large collective apology to Rotorhead as well as Ernest and Robert Macdonald. (Obviously not such a pair of nuts after all!) Van der Merwe has certainly caused a lot of damage to the Cape Town Aviation scene; here’s hoping it will all fizzle away soon!
There is another interesting little forum on http//ikiteboarding.com go to – forums – Chill out Lounge – Huey Cowboy, for anyone caring to read it.