By Garth Calitz The Pretoria Airshow has now firmly established itself on South Africa’s aviation calendar, with the second edition of the event at Rhino Park on Saturday, 29 August delivering a day that combined serious flying with the increasingly important entertainment and family component that modern airshows require. Following the inaugural event over the Easter Weekend in 2025, this year’s show demonstrated that Rhino Park has become a significant player on the airshow

By Garth Calitz Cape Winelands Airport is being designed to do something rather more ambitious than simply provide another runway and terminal for the Western Cape. Buried within the airport’s long-term development plans is an idea that could prove considerably more important to aviation than the passenger terminal itself: a dedicated “sky corridor” designed to accommodate drones, VTOL aircraft and other emerging forms of aviation. The concept is still in its initial phase an

By Rob Russell Every time you pick up a newspaper or travel magazine, you read about the increase in international travel to and from SA, with many overseas and foreign airlines increasing their flights into South Africa. Mainly tourists and great for the economy, but also many business people. Your President is always, when he is not passing another BBBEE law or running to the courts to stop his impeachment, encouraging foreign business to invest in SA. Whilst many of these

By Garth Calitz South Africa’s airline industry is taking precautionary measures to protect flight operations at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport following an unplanned shutdown at the Natref refinery, highlighting once again the vulnerability of the country’s aviation fuel supply chain. There have been no widespread flight cancellations and Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) says there is currently sufficient fuel available to maintain operations. However, a

By Garth Calitz There is something rather fitting about Air Zimbabwe returning to London after a 14-year absence. The airline’s last attempt to maintain a regular connection between Harare and the British capital ended not with a grand strategic announcement or a carefully planned network restructuring, but with one of its Boeing 767s effectively being held hostage at London Gatwick. In December 2011, the aircraft was impounded following a court order obtained by American Gen

For most pilots taking delivery of a new aircraft on the opposite side of the world, the solution is relatively straightforward: put it in a container, load it onto a ship and wait for it to arrive. Australian pilot and aircraft owner David Green evidently had other ideas. Rather than dismantling his new CubCrafters Carbon Cub UL and shipping it from Washington State to Australia, Green climbed aboard, pointed the nose east and flew the aircraft home himself. Green’s aircraft

Saab’s latest Gripen has finally done what aircraft are generally expected to do: it left the ground. But while the first flight of a new aircraft is hardly an unusual event in the aviation world, the first flight of the Gripen F represents a significant milestone in one of the more ambitious international fighter-development partnerships of recent years. The two-seat Gripen F, developed by Saab in close cooperation with Brazilian industry, completed its maiden flight on 28 A

The United States Air Force has taken another significant step in the modernisation of its nuclear deterrence forces with the MH-139A Grey Wolf officially achieving Initial Operational Capability (IOC) on August 10. The milestone marks the beginning of the end for one of the most enduring aircraft in US military aviation, the Vietnam-era UH-1N Huey, which has spent more than five decades performing the decidedly unglamorous but critically important job of protecting America's

By Garth Calitz Long before the lights go out and 22 Formula 1 cars charge towards Turn One, an enormous aviation and logistics operation has already been underway for days. Cargo aircraft, helicopters, airports, trucks, medical crews and airspace managers all play their part in getting Formula 1 from one circuit to the next. For Formula 1 fans, the Grand Prix weekend appears to begin when the teams roll out of their garages on Friday morning. The reality is rather different.

By Garth Calitz There is an uncomfortable question hanging over South African civil aviation this week: who watches the watchdog when the watchdog itself becomes part of the investigation? That question has returned to the spotlight following the dismissal of South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) airworthiness inspector and former accident investigator Jeremiah Visser, who says he was fired after raising concerns about the investigation into the 2020 crash of SACAA's