JAA PPL - can I fly in South Africa?

[AdamFrisch]

I'm going to SA on business. Staying less than 2 weeks. Not much time for recreation. No time for any theoretical tests. No time to wait for eventual validations that might take months.

So, can I rent an airplane there after a checkout, or do I need to go through some rigmarole?

[172driver]

Unless there was a serious change recently - No. You'll have to fly with an instructor.

[BillieBob]

Google is your friend - it took about 30 secs to find this (http://www.caa.co.za/resource%20center/AIC'S/30.7.pdf) (probably less time than it took you to ask the question:hmm:)

[AdamFrisch]

They love rigmaroles. In flying, rigmaroles are your friend. No flying for me then.

[Contacttower]

There is a guy called Irv Lee, I think at Popham who might be able to help on a future occasion... If you Google him (not sure if he's on here?) you'll probably find some contact details.

[Double Back]

I did it a few times for a PPL based on my ATPL, while flying for an airline, getting into SA a few times a Year.
Info is a few Yrs old, might have changed (I did not say IMPROVED).

Lots of work to do, AND costly, SA tainted by roots in good old English bureaucracy :( mixed with African "efficiency".
After the flight check plus the aforementioned exam I had to go to Pretoria (by rented car) and start the chain of madness bringing You along offices and postoffice to do a cash payment. (not possible to pay directly to SA CAA.....). Hours and hours waiting, filling out forms, while looking at the clock, because at 1300hrs all counters slammed close.

No matter how I discussed, my ATPL licence's expiry date (which was never more than 6 months away, while a comparable PPL would have been 2 Yrs, the validation license issued was never longer than 6 mo. So the next time I flew in I had to do it all over again. After a few times I called it quits.

That brings one to the circumstances in Africa. People with only high density values experience need absolutely more than one check flight to fly safe. I mean if You would like to fly in the Jo'burg/Pretoria area. Cape Town would be easier to some degree.

There is just too much to comprehend in one hour.
So if You stay only 2 weeks, forget the hassle, get a plane plus instructor and enjoy SA flying to the fullest w/o feeling stressed. Way cheaper also!

[cavortingcheetah]

One of the amusing things about navigation in South Africa when compared with cross country flying in England is that on the little island there is just so much clutter. Mind you though if you have to execute a forced landing in South Africa and then try to walk out, you'll probably either die of thirst or be eaten by lions, hyenas and dung beetles. The latter will happen of course if you succumb to the former.
DCA/CAA moved some years ago from Bosman and Struben Streets in Pretoria to Midrand and is quite convenient to get to. It now has a two stop licence counter and the coffee shop is quite good. It's very near Grand Central airfield where FTS operate a training school and it's not that far from Lanseria where Lanseria Flight Centre operate a training school. There are other schools at each airfield but these two spring to mind as having been around for a while. I would not speculate on the individual rigmarole involved in being considered safe to fly in South African skies but I'm sure that a timed telephone call to a training school in South Africa would elicit the required information.
I would guess that the length of any validation would be limited at the least by the expiry date of your medical which might explain why an ATPL was only validated for PPL priviliges for a six month period and not the two years requested. In SA you cannot just convert a senior licence to a lower grade and extend the time span of medical priviliges acccordingly.
The dual route seems like the best idea. That way you'll be able to be locally trained and taught to recognise famous local landmarks on the way out and back from the GFs. There are also of course certain weather conditions to consider now that summer time is here and the ever present bad visibility caused by dust clouds and inversions. Engine handling considerations and performance characteristics are quite different on the Reef than at British or American sea level. There's a lot to assimilate to transition from being a safe UK pilot to being a safe SA one and being in a tearing hurry ain't always a great idea.