86 SA Flyer Magazine
A
s Africa’s most
active and
disciplined
aviation state,
perhaps it
shouldn’t come
as a surprise
that we have not
yet joined that
unhappy group. South African aviation has
always been something to be proud of.
But the speech made by Minister
of Transport Joe Maswanganyi at the
announcement of the passed audit does
raise some red ags for general aviation in
this country.
COMPARING APPLES AND ORANGES
Maswanganyi’s comparison of accident
statistics between commercial aviation
and general aviation implies a lack of
understanding of these two very distinct
areas of aviation.
ICAO’s Annex 6 part II notes the
following:
“Level of safety.
The Annex should ensure an
acceptable level of safety to passengers
and third parties (third parties meaning
persons on the ground and persons in
the air in other aircraft). Also, as some
international general aviation operations
(typically under 5,700 kg) would be
performed by crews less experienced and
less skilled, with less reliable equipment,
to less rigorous standards and with greater
freedom of action than in commercial air
transport operations, it was therefore,
accepted that the passenger in international
general aviation aircraft would not
necessarily enjoy the same level of safety
as the fare-paying passenger in commercial
air transport. However, it was recognized
that in ensuring an acceptable degree of
safety for third parties, an acceptable level
of safety for ight crews and passengers
would be achieved.
Freedom of action.
The maximum freedom of action
consistent with maintaining an acceptable
level of safety should be granted to
international general aviation.”
The point is, general aviation operations
happen in a vastly different environment
from those of commercial operations –
and the expected levels of safety. And as
the above annex shows, ICAO has long
recognised that it is impossible to apply
the same standards in these differing
environments, and has accordingly made
provision for that.
There is no doubt that general aviation
carries a higher risk and that regulations
and their implementation must take that
into account. Even the general public
understand that ʻying in little aeroplanesʼ
is more of an adventure that combines
greater freedom of action with greater risk.
Why then do those who are charged with
the oversight of our safety not understand
that “maintaining an acceptable level of
safety” in GA means that the regulatory
environment must also be adapted to
AOPA BRIEFING
Chris Martinus ‒ Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association – South Africa
HAS THE SACAA
FAILED THE GENERAL
AVIATION AUDIT?
The ICAO audit team
has come and gone, and
the CAA has trumpeted
that it passed the audit,
which means that ICAO
has found no ‘signicant
safety concern’ that
would put South Africa
in that group of seven
countries (out of 191
ICAO member states)
that performed so
dismally in their aviation
oversight that they are
‘red-agged’ by the
auditors.
Commercial aviation and general
aviation are very different. The worry
is that there is decreasing room and
understanding for the latter.
Steyn De Bevere
87 SA Flyer Magazine
accommodate both the freedom of action
and that different environment?
SABC reports on the ICAO audit and
GA accidents blame the victims by citing
poor airmanship, fuel starvation, disregard
for weather patterns and technical
maintenance issues. But the enforcement
of regulations does little to address
the cause of these issues. Education,
mentoring and encouraging self-discipline
are what is needed. Yet credit is given to
better enforcement of regulations for the
purported 50% reduction in GA accidents.
Just like the Minister’s information, SABC
gets its data from the CAA, and it lacks key
elements.
It is also worth noting that the CAA
derives over 75% of its income from
passenger safety charges collected by
the airlines and is thus more inclined to
look after its bigger customer, being the
scheduled carriers.
FEWER GA ACCIDENTS?
There may be fewer accidents, but
CAA is yet to make any correlation between
accidents and statistical essentials such
as the number of hours own during the
accident period. Accident investigation
reporting is late, inaccurate and many
accident reports are never even published.
Economic factors, oppressive
regulations, obstructive service and a
failure to provide basic administrative
functions, such as being able to issue
licences and certicates within a
reasonable time, have drastically reduced
the number of GA hours own – probably
by far more than 50%. Part 93 regulations
alone promise to destroy corporate aviation
entirely.
Thus, in real terms, GA accident rates
have almost certainly increased, given the
fall in GA activity. This raises the rst ag
for CAA’s oversight of general aviation
safety.
ENFORCEMENT
CAA and the Minister give themselves
credit for fewer accidents due to improved
enforcement, but AOPA’s experience is
that most enforcement actions relate to
trivial nitpicking over minor misdemeanours
and even victimisation rather than dealing
with real safety issues. In discussions over
regulatory and legislative changes, it is
even recorded in meeting minutes that an
internal kangaroo court process should be
followed, rather than the ordinary courts,
considering serious transgression, possibly
because it is preferable that nes be paid to
CAA than to the courts.
The courts have taken a dim view
of this: In the 2015 matter of Keyser vs
SACAA, the Pretoria High Court observed
that CAA’s enforcement procedures were
“mistaken in their approach”, but this
judgement has been ignored.
This raises the second red ag.
AIRSPACE
Airspace design caters to the
commercial interests of airlines and large
airports without due consideration of
the existence of GA’s needs. This has
been a focus for AOPA’s safety experts
over a period of many years. Around
major centres, controlled airspaces have
funnelled GA trafc into impossibly small
gaps, both vertically and horizontally,
which VFR pilots must attempt to navigate
when ying around the larger airports or
traversing our bigger cities.
Suggestions by AOPA for VFR routes
across or through these overly generous
controlled airspaces have fallen on deaf
ears. VFR pilots, particularly those who are
not thoroughly familiar with a particularly
badly designed airspace conguration,
are often doomed to either y too low over
populated areas and mountainous terrain,
AOPA BRIEFING
BELOW - Accident rates have dropped off,
but is this a result of improved safety or fewer
flights?
88 SA Flyer Magazine
pass through busy circuits of smaller
airports or to bust controlled airspaces.
Again, the victims are blamed. CAA’s
blinkered approach is to only see the
problem as being poor pilot discipline rather
than bad airspace design.
This then raises a large red ag.
BIZARRELY OBSTRUCTIVE
REGULATIONS
Just one of many regulations that make
things excessively difcult and expensive
for private aircraft owners and operators is
the linking of aircraft maintenance, payment
of fees and annual expiry to certicates of
airworthiness.
As this is being written, AOPA is
receiving reports that CAA requires the
application for renewal of a certicate
of airworthiness to be submitted 60
days before the expiry of the current
one. Of course, the application must be
accompanied by reams of documentation,
including certicates that the aircraft has
been maintained – also 60 days earlier than
necessary – otherwise the application will
not be processed.
Far from implementing the objectives
of ICAO or any other safety standards,
placing impossible requirements upon
aircraft owners merely erodes their
respect for authority and encourages
avoiding compliance by cheating, ignoring
regulations and just doing one’s own thing.
This raises the biggest red ag of all.
The other problems can be addressed and
corrected on the short term, but once that
culture of compliance and discipline that is
the foundation of aviation safety yields to
disobedience and contempt for the rules, it
will be very difcult to reverse.
POLITICS
CAA Director Ms Poppy Khoza has
in her press releases asked, “Where are
the black pilots?” Indeed, where are they?
Transformation policies have certainly
provided the opportunities for new pilots
and aviation entrepreneurs through the
incubator of general aviation.
But, by not nurturing GA, our authorities
have failed to ignite that passion and
determination to pursue the dream of ight
which is essential for anyone to succeed
in aviation. This is only too visible in the
halls of CAA’s ofces, where I daresay
none of the senior executives are aviation
enthusiasts. And without that enthusiasm,
they are unable to instil it in those people
who must be the foundation of our industry,
both now and in the future.
AUDIT FAILED
I would argue that these ‘signicant
safety concerns’ regarding the
implementation and oversight of general
aviation in South Africa mean that we
have failed the audit – at least from the
perspective of general aviation.
AOPA BRIEFING
j
ABOVE - JHB Special Rules. General aviation
VFR flights are squeezed near the ground and
through narrow corridors in Gauteng.
