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August/September 2005
PRETORIA FLYING SCHOOL
NEWSLETTER
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2005
After many months of emptiness, we are proud to at last add a Newsletter to our Website. Many of you have urged us to do so, as it would be so much easier for our pilots and especially people working and living abroad, to keep informed about what is the latest goings on of Pretoria Flying School.
Well, we have loads to report on so here goes;
THE ARRIVAL OF OUR IRANIAN STUDENTS
We were extremely proud to welcome our first three students from the Republic of Iran on the 14th June, 2005. They were accompanied by a Flight Instructor from the Civil Aviation Authority in Tehran, Mr Mohsen Pourranjbar, as well as the head of Fazatak Gostar Aviation Consulting Company in Tehran, Mr Khashayar Kourang-Behesti.
Fazatak Gostar, has entered into an agreement with Pretoria Flying School to train all students selected by themselves for training towards the Commercial Pilot’s Licence. According to Mr Kourang-Behesti, Iran has an immense shortage of Iranian pilots, mainly due to the U.S. embargo on training aircraft and spares. Iranian students consider themselves lucky to fly 25 hours in two years. One can therefore understand the frustration of these students.
During their first week with us they were shown around the Doornpoort, Montana, Wonderboom area where they will be residing for the next two years and they were also treated to a day at the famous Sun City Resort. A guided tour through the Sun City Palace left all of us gasping.
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During the following week training started in all earnest and Amin, Ali and Hesam couldn’t believe their luck as they flew almost daily.
At our solo/wings party on Friday the 19th August, all three of them were awarded with their PPL wings. We are very, very proud of them. Considering the language barrier, they completed their PPL’s in very low time, which is commendable. They are already attending our current CPL Ground School and will be completing their Night Ratings within the next week or two.
THE REPORT ON OUR MOST RECENT SOLO/WINGS PARTY (19 AUGUST)
Oh boy!! It was a bash. As always!! The food was stunning. The disco had everyone dead on their feet. I won’t say anymore. The pictures paint a thousand words! We would like to congratulate everyone who obtained a licence or a rating in the past three months. They are the following ;
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SOLO
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PRIVATE PILOT’S LICENCE
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NIGHT RATING
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COMMERCIAL
PLOT’S LICENCE
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INSTRUCTOR’S RATING
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ALI LAMEEI
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ALI LAMEEI
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BENEDIKT HARTMANN
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ELSA VAN ROOYEN
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MARTIN SOEKOE
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AMIN KHEIRIEH
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AMIN KHEIRIEH
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CEBILE MNDAWE
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TANYA KRUGER
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HESAM HADDADI
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HESAM HADDADI
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IRENE WIJNJA
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CASPER VAN ZYL
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BENEDIKT HARTMANN
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LINDI VAN DYK
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CHRIS BADENHORST
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CHRIS BESSINGER
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QUINTIN BOTES
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CHRISTO BEZUIDENHOUT
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HANNO DU TOIT
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JACQUES BURGER
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MOKGANEDI MAPHENDUKA
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MOKGANEDI MAPHENDUKA
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MC MATSEBULA
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RITZA LUBBE
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PIROW CRONJE
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QUINTIN BOTES
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AIRLINE TRANSPORT PILOT LICENCES
This licence, of course, is what every student pilot aspires to achieving. Every Airline in South Africa, even the smaller feeder Airlines, require this licence before even considering a Commercial Pilot for employment. When our Flight Instructors obtain this distinguished licence, we are elated as well as very sad. Elated, because it makes us very proud when our ‘children’ grow strong wings and ready themselves to fly from the nest. Sad, because we know that at this point we have to start saying goodbye to people who have not only been dedicated and committed employees for quite a few years but who have also become dear friends over a long period of time. Our pride however, is far greater than our sadness and we want to use this opportunity to congratulate our latest achievers.
Marie Crews, Werner Smit and Shaun Rip have just joined the ranks of exceptional pilots. All Chief Pilots of Airlines be warned : You snooze – you lose ! Grab these guys (and girl) now! They are the best there is!
  
MARIE CREWS SHAUN RIP WERNER SMIT
Werner and Marie both also got their Turbine Instructor’s Rating and Werner has a King Air B90 available for any interested pilots at the unbelievably low cost of R6,200-00 per hour!
THE PFS FLEET OF AIRCRAFT
Since we lost ZS-MDX due to the owners’ intention to sell her, we have been battling to find well-equipped Cessna 172’s for training. As most of you know, we had to place advertisements in the Aviation magazines for training Aircraft. Many people called us who were interested in buying 172’s and leasing it to us for training. This brought smiles to our faces as we know very well how scarce these babies are. At last, we are able to report the addition of two stunning 172’s to our fleet after a full three months of trying to find needles in a haystack.
AND, we are very happy to report that ZS-MDX is back on our fleet! She was always tremendously popular so fly her into a monthly MPI like she’s used to!
ZS-JWZ was bought by Shaun Rip’s father Malcolm, and PFS’s co-owner, Andre Nel. Many of our long-standing pilots will recall that ZS-JWZ used to be part of the fleet back in 1995. She was extremely popular at that time and has, like all beautiful women, only become better with age. Also, like all beautiful women, she has picked up a little hail-damage over the years, but we are so impressed by her performance that, like the gentlemen that we are, we will pretend not to notice. The cherry on top is that she is fully IF-equipped!
Since the arrival of ZS-PMX (not PMS!) everyone has been raving about her performance. ZS-PMX was imported brand new from the States and she has a total of only 1,500 Airframe hours. Her instrumentation is obviously brand new and she is fully IF-equipped which means that all of you who have been thinking about doing that Night Rating is now in a position to do so in quite a short span of time. A word of warning though :- her rudders are extremely sensitive. We will therefore not allow any solo flying on her, especially during the PPL phase of training as landing her, especially in crosswind conditions, can be hazardous. Only PPL pilots who have done a large portion of their training on her will be allowed to hire & fly her afterwards. We would hate to see her damaged so early in her life.
We have also been fortunate to add a Cessna 152/172 to our fleet. This little 2-seater is ideal for hour-building as she goes for the very low rate of R 610-00 per hour. Do a short conversion as soon as possible after your PPL and you will be in a position to book her at very short notice as she is not utilized for abinitio training which leaves her relatively free.
Also on the Hire & Fly fleet, we have a Piper 180, ZS-DZG which is also a very good alternative for building hours. DZG is a popular choice for pilots who want to fly away for a weekend and take family or friends along. We have never required a certain minimum hours flown per day on any of our Aircraft. It has always been our contention that pilots become safer pilots, the more they practice their craft. We find the legal requirement for the holder of a PPL, of three hours solo annually, to be absolutely insufficient. We would like to encourage Private Pilots to fly at least one hour a month by making Aircraft rental as affordable as possible. Therefore, no demurrage at PFS!
Our Piper Arrow, ZS-SEU, a 200 Arrow, is also available for Hire&Fly to pilots with 100 total hours minimum. However, she is utilized for CPL training and is not as readily available as DZG. Book your intended weekend well in advance. She is also a great favourite with visiting European pilots who often rent her for a flying holiday.
It has also been many moons since we could boast with a six-seater on the fleet. ZS-FVL is a Cherokee 6 and can be rented as a full 4 seater at R 1,360-00 per hour. She is equipped with a GPS, autopilot and VOR. She is also equipped with a fuel-management system. This Cherokee 6 is in excellent condition and we are very lucky to have her available on our fleet. Please make sure that she is tidy before parking her in the hangar after each flight. We would like to have her for many moons to come.
Don’t forget that we have a stunning Beechcraft Baron 58 for multi-engine training at R 2,565-00 per hour/(dual).
See ‘FLEET’ for a list of all our Aircraft and related prices.
We have decided to make use of this forum to brag with our exceptional team of instructors one by one, in order for you to get to know them as people as well and also for you to take note of their career achievements as well as highlights in their personal lives. Instructors at Pretoria Flying School are hand-picked, not only for their ability to fly well but most of all for their ability to teach well.
First in line is DANIE JACOBS who acts as Chief Flying Instructor in the absence of Andre Nel who currently flies for Atlantic Air in Malaysia.
Danie has a total of 4,300 hours of which 3,000 hours are instruction related. He has the Convair 580 as well as the Fairchild Metro III on his licence and is currently in the process of adding the Cessna 208B (Grand Caravan) to his Instructor’s Rating.
Danie is married to Karen who is a qualified radio-therapist. They are expecting the birth of their baby daughter around the 24th September 2005. Until then, all their love and attention is focused on Bitto, a seriously cute Jack Russell and Matewis, a noisy African Grey parrot.
We are extremely lucky to still have Danie as the leader of our Instruction team. We have no doubt that he will very soon be plucked out of the fold by one of the local Airlines or Charter companies. But until then, we plan to squeeze many hours of instruction out of him.
UDO IS BACK ! (SORT OF)
After a little longer than a year, which felt to us like a life-time, we are fortunate enough to have Udo back in the fold. Unfortunately though, not on a full-time basis. Udo is nowadays acting as an Aviation Consultant for various companies and flying schools. He will also be presenting CRM courses in association with the very famous Brandy Branders. We have the benefit of his incredible knowledge and experience for only a few hours every week. We want to extend a warm word of welcome to him from all at Pretoria Flying School. We missed him sorely and we are looking forward to many, many years of using and abusing him.
He obviously had some extra time on his hands while he was away, as there is another little Skawran on the way early in March 2006. We share in their excitement and wish Udo, Alida and Sibrine health and happiness over the next few months.
POTJIEKOS COMPETITION
Bassair Aviation hosted a Potjiekos Competition on Saturday, 27 August, for all Wonderboom Operators. The first prize was a flip for three in a chopper doing a game capturing flight. The crowd at Pretoria Flying School decided to go all out for this and our theme was “BOERPOT”. Shaun was responsible for a Rooibok potjie and Dawid made what he called a Kakemasosstert Pot. (Ox tail hailing from Kakemas). Shaun’s pot won second prize in a very close shave with the winning pot. Our set-up won first prize and we attach a picture of the “Maplotters”. (“MaPOTTERS”)
  
SAFETY EVENINGS
Once again, we urge you to make a special effort to attend our monthly Safety Evenings. Every last Wednesday of every month is set aside for various speakers to share their knowledge and experience with student pilots. Remember, that every pilot will always remain a student pilot. No one can ever know everything. Your safety is our concern.
BAD NEWS!
Two severe increases in the price of Avgas has forced us to increase our rates accordingly. We decided to absorb the first increase of 68c per litre on 22nd August 2005 as we did not decrease our rates when the price of Avgas came down a few months ago, but then we were hit with a second increase of 51c per litre on the 12th September 2005. This meant an increase in the running cost of a Cessna 172 of at least R36-00 per hour which makes it impossible for our owners to absorb.
GOOD NEWS!
Our prices were increases by only R20 - R25 on the Cessna 172's and by the same margin on the rest of our fleet!
WATCH THIS SPACE FOR BI-MONTHLY UPDATES!
P.S. Please e-mail me on sonja@pfs.co.za if you have any newsworthy items which you would want me to feature in our Newsletter.
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