Flying in Southern Africa

You have to divide up this topic into South Africa and the rest. SA has a modern Air Traffic Control system similar to that of Europe. English is spoken, albeit with strong accents, and ICAO standard terminology is used. Lanseria Airport, where I took my qualification checkrides, is a modern facility with excellent maintenance, include heavy aircraft overhauls. All of the players were represented, Pratt and Whitney, Cirrus, Cessna, the major avionics manufacturers, etc. Tower visits are encouraged. Aviation is, however, very bureaucratic. Flight plans must be filed for all flights, landing fees, ATC fees, and other user fees are also charged. One person in the tower is essentially a billing clerk who notes charges as you operate. There is radar coverage in parts of the country, but you mostly do position reports like we did in France in the 70's.





Much more information is requested by ATC. The proper call for taxi clearance in the US would be "N2629R is ready for taxi with information India" In SA the call was "Good morning Lanceria ground, ZS-WAT is ready to taxi. We are two crew, no passengers, destination Thorneybush estimating 2 hours enroute with 5 hours 30 minutes endurance."





Once airborne the transmissions are similar with ATC asking for your time estimates to various points along the route. Everyone is very courteous, but the radio load is high.





The bush fields are rough and require that you "buzz" then before landing to ensure no animals are on them. Hyenas tend to eat tires, so some have a fenced in area for parking while others require that thorn bushes be cut and stacked over the tires to discourage their consumption. You are met at these fields, some of which are 45 minutes from camp, but a ranger who was radioed your ETA.





Leaving SA for Botswana you are struck by the vast distances and lack of any sign of man on the ground. You might fly for an hour with out seeing a road. There are very few places to purchase avgas in the country, so fuel management is very important. Theoretically there are remote transmitters which allow you to report your position to ATC. In flights which covered the country from S to N, and E to W, I was never able to contact anyone. As previously indicated, Limpopo Valley International Airport-one runway, a thatched "terminal"-has a tower. My calls went unanswered and the ranger who met us said they could hear me calling but the tower controller was on holiday and there was no one to answer me.





Fuel, when available, is very paperwork intensive. A full page form is completed including details about the purchaser address etc, the routing of the aircraft, certification that the pilot has inspected the fuel etc. No fuel is self service, and the operators were all cheerful and helpful. Costs were similar to what we pay in the US.





While I would overlook the refueling Bev would complete the paperwork vis a vis landing feels, ATC fees etc. Again, everyone was very helpful and polite. One of the things which struck us about dealing with SA, Botswanans, and Zambians is the degree of courtesy extended and expected. Everyone shook hands, inquired about you and how your day was going, etc. Once we got the hang of it the interactions were always pleasant.





Security at the small airports was nonexistent. At the larger ones it was laughable. As an example, at Polokwane, an airport in Northern SA we had to process through customs and immigration as we were leaving for Botswana. After the fuel and user fees dance we were directed to take our bags to security screening. I parked the aircraft out on the ramp, and Bev and I took one bag each into the terminal- we left the rest in the airplane. We put our bags on the x-ray machine, collected them at the other end and walked back out to our airplane. The female customs agent and a male policeman walked out with us, holding hands. The policeman glanced into our heavily loaded airplane, said "ok" and they strolled off.





Navigation is by dead reckoning and GPS. Winds aloft were available in SA, but no where else. Airfields are few and far between, and the charts are old-1980's vintage, and pretty unreliable. You need to pay attention.





This time of the year the bush is being burned as many of the tribes still do slash and burn farming. We would fly for as long as an hour with no visible horizon due to smoke. The poor visibility in the air was a disappointment.





Flying was fun, challenging, and exciting.





Ron