African Trends

[B Sousa]

I have a bit of fun on these forums while sometimes trying to bring light on subjects that the rest of the world consider serious.
One topic that none of us have fun with is the loss of fellow Aviators.
Just look at the African Avaition Forum in totality. About every third thread is regarding someone making scrap out of perfectly good aircraft.
So, whos responsible. Folks extremely more educated than I am and who have spent a lifetime in Accident Investigations will point fingers in a variety of directions. I am seriously thinking that in the near future its going to encompass a lot of factors but all will include, for whatever reason, the SACAA.
A term that we hear a lot when accidents continue is "Trends" When that comes up here, the the FAA sticks noses into things bigtime to ascertain if there is something they can do, albiet regulation, stringent enforcement etc. so that these will stop or slow down.
The Military even has safety standowns when the trend figures get too high.
Maybe what Im saying is that SACAA should be a bit more involved in prevention than after the fact blame. Excuse my ignorance if this is already occurring. Here we have volunteers who organize local safety get togethers. Again this may occur, Im just not privy to it although I did see a get together posted here last year.
It just takes a little help and participation from SACAA. Lots of very experienced pilots in SA who could certainly shed some of that on others. I dont need to get into the nuts and bolts, but anything WE can do to let someone go home in the evening will help.
Fire Away..........

[Shrike200]

Attitude, attitude, attitude.....in more ways than one.

I've seen the way in which aviation is treated in Africa...just another matatu (sp?). Until that attitude changes, and people accept that statistics matter, things won't change.....

With a rethink, its slightly different in Safrica. Most people do actually make an effort, as evidenced by our hull loss rate. My experience in the rest of Africa has taught me to believe that they believe safety to be some incomprehensible goal that forces some 'western/colonialist' ideals on them. They therefore seem to reject it, sacrificing their passengers on the noble altar of 'freedom' or something. Whatever. Please forgive my cynical attitude, too long in the land of progress.

[birdlady]

Excellent post.

It scares the c**p out of me to see how many accidents there are in this part of the world. The reasons I would not even begin to have answers for but I can speculate. Maintenance or lack thereof would be my main guess. The CAA doesnt seem to be strict enough when it comes to licencing these examinars. I've heard some real horror stories about certain AMO's - mainly they dont know their a*se from their elbow or our just out for a quick buck. How do you expect a fresh comm to be able to do an expection previously disadvantaged or otherwise. Another would be negligance. Too many operators are out there to make a quick buck and are willing to compromise safety. I can only really speak as a PPL, but from what Ive seen so far there are too many cowboys/girls out there that are willing to take the risks. For example, yesterday I was out flying by FAGC's GFA - anybody who uses that area knows there is a lot of traffic passing through there. I saw a few planes flying through there without maintaining radio contact just so they could avoid TMA charges. The visibility was really terrible so Im not really going to see these guys untill the very last minute. For a couple of rands they are willing to risk other peoples lives..... now this really p***es me off :mad: :yuk: Call me a stickler or an an** retentive but Id rather pay the extra few bob (eventhough I think what ATNS is doing to GA is wrong and illegal not to mention evil :rolleyes: :rolleyes: but thats not the point) then put other peoples lives at risk.

South Africa is a great place to fly with regards to training and weather but it doesnt look very safe so a lot of foreign pilots are reluctant to come here for training and flying - result- a huge amount of missed income for the country.

The CAA knows its in a shambles but more importantly do they care????

[B Sousa]

without maintaining radio contact just so they could avoid TMA charges

That is what we call a Trend......fortunately in the states we pay taxes to the government so they dont charge for things such as this. I believe yours is a holdover from the Brits, bless their money hungry hearts.
Back to the Trend. The reaon for maintaining contact is to avoid accidents. SACAA should jump on this one and the easiest way a some dummy like me sees to fix it ,is to do away with the fees.
Get the money somewhere else.
There may be other ways, but eventually this Trend is going to ruin someones day.

[birdlady]

Bert...... I couldnt agree with you more. Unfortunately the powers that be dont see it in this light. Im afraid its going to take a major accident before they do see the light. Im not pointing fingers but I reckon a certain minister who has a lot to do with our national carrier might have had a hand in this........ just speculation chaps....... :E :E

[cargodoor]

I think a lot of it all has to do with respect and working with one another. At the moment it seems very much like us pilots are the only ones trying to help one another out and that the rest of the industry really couldn't be bothered with us. Just simple things as mentioned above like the AMO's not stepping up to the game, operators looking for any ways to cut costs, ATNS fees too high leading to stupid decisions etc etc. With more respect from everyone involved i'm sure it COULD happen that we once again start to see less fatalities and hull losses. However its almost impossible to impose respect so it can only become a timely process. It also requires effort from everyone which has me in doubt. This is just my humble opinion.......

Fly safe guys!

[ChiefT]

A big step for African Aviation would be the ratification of the Yamoussoukro Agreement, giving Africa a sort of Open Sky...