Children’s Flight 2025 - The Biggest Ever

By Garth Calitz

Photos by Garth Calitz, Trevor Cohen and Esias Riecket

Felix Gosher and the lively Children's Flight crew once again got the most out of all the sponsors and volunteers, just like they've been doing for the past nine years. This year, Wonderboom National Airport hosted the 10th Anniversary of this amazing charity event. The team had some big goals for 2025: the idea was to fly 1000 underprivileged kids in a single day, which is pretty impressive no matter how you look at it.

The first event was held at Grand Central Airport in 2016, where one hundred and fifty kids were treated to a day of flight and fun. Since then, the Initiative has grown exponentially every year until the world was plunged into the COVID-19 pandemic. Felix, with his infectious enthusiasm, wasn’t about to let a virus ruin his plans to share his love of aviation. Somehow, between lockdowns, he managed to pull off a slightly smaller but no less impressive event at Orient Airfield with a motto of “Less Cheese more G’s”, which became the new field of dreams through 2023. In 2024, the Children's Flight moved to central South Africa and treated Free State kids to the Fly, Feed, Love and Inspire experience at Tempe Airfield in Bloemfontein.

The days before the event were super busy for the team as they worked on coordinating all the pilots, sponsors and of course, the children, the VVIPs for the day. They had to do some major planning, especially with the wild goals set for this year. But, as usual, when D-day arrived, everything was good to go and ready to live up to the motto: “Fly, Feed, Love and Inspire.”

Wonderboom Airport was buzzing from early morning as all the kids arrived. Some were a bit overwhelmed, but most were excited about what they were about to experience, even if they were a little nervously excited.

The first children to experience the joys of flight were taken up by the morning squadron just after sunrise. These were all private pilots who offered their aircraft and time, all for sharing the joy of flying. While the sunrise squadron was spreading the love, some lucky children were offered tethered flights in a hot air balloon on the threshold of runway 06.

After a warm welcome from Brian Emmenis, the official commentator, and organiser Felix Gosher, the event was officially opened with a prayer. The flying fun began with the arrival of the aerobatic display pilots, along with some RV pilots, all coming together for an amazing mass formation flypast. Tristan Eeles then broke off for the first display of the day.

As Tristan was busy wowing both the kids and the adults, the Pretoria skydiving club's PAC P-750 XSTOL took off and climbed up for a cool drop. Once the Extra 330SC touched down safely, three skydivers jumped out, with one of them carrying a huge South African flag. As soon as the flag unfurled, the Capital Sounds team kicked off the National Anthem to go along with the flag's descent to the field of dreams.

Andre van Zyl didn't need an invite to flaunt his new Magni Gyro. He put on an amazing show, proving once again that a gyrocopter can do way more than most people think—if you've got the skills, that is.

As Andre was dancing through the crisp morning air, Juba Joubert took off in the Aérospatiale Gazelle. Juba teamed up with Andre to pull off a pretty wild formation, which the two skilled pilots nailed with ease. Afterwards, Andre stepped aside to let Juba show off the amazing French helicopter.

Elton Bondi must've lost a bet, and that led to him being talked into racing not just one, but four supercars. A Lamborghini, a McLaren, a Porsche, and a Ferrari were all eager to claim bragging rights by beating an Extra 300, but unfortunately for them, they didn't manage to pull it off. On the bright side, the drivers got the rare chance to floor these amazing cars down a runway with no chance of potholes, which isn't something they get to do every day.

You can't have an airshow in South Africa without Nigel Hopkins flying his Extra 330SC and at least one fast jet, and luckily, both were there! Nigel put on his usual amazing performance, but this time he was flying solo since his buddy, Jason Beamish, was off enjoying a well-earned trip to Oshkosh. To wrap up the airshow, Grant Timms wowed everyone with a display in an Aero L-39 Albatros.

With the airshow portion of the day out of the way, it was time for the serious business of flying the children. Affording 1000 young people the opportunity to enjoy a sensation that many of us take for granted, in just a few hours, takes an astronomical amount of planning. Felix approached the best in the business to pull off this daunting task. The Helicopter operation was meticulously planned by Juba Joubert, a task he executed with what can only be described as military precision. Timing was planned down to the second with four squadrons of choppers landing, loading, flying and unloading like a well-oiled machine. The absolute joy on the returning children's faces made all the hard work worth it.

While the helicopters were making short work of their precious cargo, the fixed-wing squadrons were hard at work on the other side of the apron, loading up children and taking them up for a memory that will hopefully stay with them for a lifetime. The Helicopters were flying circuits to the south of the airport and the fixed-wings were staying out of the way, operating to the north. Cemair sent a De Havilland Dash 8, which made a massive dent in the numbers. They originally planned to do only one load, but I guess the spirit of Ubuntu got the better of them, and they did three.

As the day wore on, we all realised that the flying programme was running way ahead of schedule and the envisioned 1000 children would all have tasted flight long before the planned time. This, in part, is due to great planning and the generosity of the private pilots who offered their aircraft at their own cost to make up any shortfall. Just to ensure that no child was left unflown, Springbok Flying Safaris had their beautiful Twin Beech 18 at the ready to fly the last few kids.

The 10th Children's Flight, in South Africa, that is was a great success. People often forget that Felix and Belinda Gosher have taken the Children's Flight to Zambia, and it was as much of a success there as it is here at home. But, and it's a big but, without the generosity of countless sponsors, events like this would never leave the planning phase. Unfortunately, there are way too many sponsors to name them all here, but please take a look at the official sponsor poster to see who the companies and individuals are that deserve your support.

After a short rest and debrief period, I do not doubt that Felix and his crew will be back to plan the 2026 edition of what has become one of the most anticipated events on the aviation calendar. I personally can't wait to see what rabbits they pull out of the hat for next year. Well done to all involved.

Fly * Feed * Love * Inspire

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