31 FlightCom Magazine
A
NALYS IS of pilots,
aircraft, accidents,
hours own, level of
qualications, types
of operations and
licence types can
yield valuable statistical clustering which
may help identify safety issues that need
attention and rectication. But years of
begging and complaining have yielded little
material from CAA that would be useful for
developing safety strategies, particularly for
general aviation.
However, a little bonus was hiding in
CAA’s 2017/2018 Annual Report: some
statistics regarding licensing of pilots and
aircraft. As regards aircraft, growth in the
2016/2017/2018 years was very at, with
small increases in the numbers of turboprop
aircraft (3.3%) and helicopters (3%) from
2017 to 2018.
There was nevertheless a large growth
(54%) in the numbers of drones registered
during this period, but that is to be expected
with these devices being a relative newcomer
to the regulatory environment.
One of the most signicant factors for
GA is the ratio between certied piston
aeroplanes and recreational aircraft
showing that there are now nearly as many
non-type-certied aircraft (6,332) as type-
certied piston aircraft (3,823). That makes
NTCA aircraft nearly half of the full total
(13,381) of all aircraft registered in South
Africa, including drones.
Since most piston aircraft fall into
the GA category, it can be assumed that
between NTCA and TCA, general aviation
aircraft (10 155) make up about 76% of the
aircraft on the SA register.
[See table below]
When it comes to personnel licences,
however, there are notable discrepancies
between males, females and racial groups
in the pilot demographics.
The rst gure that shows a major
imbalance is that, of the total number of
pilots licensed in SA (20,782), excluding
drones, the majority are white males
(16,761) or 81 %.
Secondly, the ratio between male
(19,120) and female pilots places women at
a mere 8% of the pilot population in SA.
Thirdly, and a matter of greatest
concern, the ratio of white pilots (18,163)
to the total of African, Coloured and Indian
pilots (1,761), placing non-whites at a little
less than 10% of all SA pilots.
[See Table B - opposite]
These inequalities have CAA grumbling
that “transformation continues to be
lethargic” and CAA Chairman, Mr Smunda
Mokoena, darkly alludes: “It is evident that
the aviation industry is reluctant or unable
to transform and that efforts to diversify do
not measure up to the challenge. This is also
an indication that there is the need for an
urgent intervention.”
It is however perhaps apposite to
explore the numbers of pilots that make up
the general aviation community. Private
pilots and student pilots are, for the most
part, voluntary entrants to aviation and few
are sponsored or employed by the aviation
industry itself.
If we add up the numbers for both SPLs
and PPLs, we nd that white males still
constitute the vast majority – in similar
ratios to commercial pilots. It therefore
cannot be correct to blame the “aviation
industry.” These numeric imbalances are
clearly due to personal choices and not
to industry inuences, since student and
private pilots are not employed in ying
jobs.
Although in the distant past, mostly
prior to the 1930s, women and persons of
colour were discouraged and often barred
from becoming pilots, there are many, many
It’s not often that our Civil Aviation
Authority provides us with South African
aviation statistics, yet statistics are a
cornerstone of aviation safety.
Lies, DAMNED Lies
& STATISTICS
Table A - aircraft growth other than drones, has been static.
AOPA BRIEFING
CHRIS MARTINUS -
AIRCRAFT OWNERS AND PILOTS ASSOCIATION – SOUTH AFRICA
FlightCom Magazine 32
stories how they overcame these prejudices.
But since the 1980s the playing eld has
been levelled in most parts of the world. It
is very unusual to hear of women or persons
of colour being discriminated against in the
aviation sector. Indeed, women and other
races are generally welcomed into aviation
and many governments actively encourage
these groups to take up careers in aviation
by way of bursaries and other enticements.
Nevertheless, elsewhere in the world we
see the same inequality of numbers. For
example, in the USA, only 4.1% of airline
transport pilots are women and a tiny 2.7%
are black. Our gures in SA, at 8% and 10%
respectively are a lot better in comparison,
even though they do not parallel the local
population demographic.
Inequalities in society are a problem.
Many socio-political schemes have sought
to address such inequalities, but only where
these inequalities are due to discrimination
or are otherwise prejudicial. The fact is,
different population groups tend to have
different preferences for a wide range of
pursuits and, although there may be dramatic
disparities, it is erroneous to assume that the
resultant statistical differences are brought
about by injustices, either present or past.
Efforts to grow the female and black
pilot populations through encouraging black
kids to take up ying, through barring whites
from entering cadet programmes and many
other initiatives by the industry, by state
agencies and by efforts from pilots who y
young black children for introductory ips,
have yielded disappointing results.
The reality is that you can take the horse
to the water, but you can’t make it drink.
AOPA’s concerns are that our CAA
is now trying to force the issue, not by
developing aviation among the people who
are in the minority, but by attacking the
majority of pilots on the basis that they
are white and male. This seems to be very
apparent in their actions: the nancial,
regulatory and administrative burdens
placed upon general aviation pilots and
aircraft owners continues to increase
exponentially. Far from encouraging new
entrants into aviation, this has the effect of
raising the bar. There were times only a few
years ago when a licence renewal would take
only a few hours while the applicant waited
by having a couple of cups of coffee. Today,
at best, the process takes days – or even
weeks and months.
THE OBSTRUCTIVENESS TACTIC
CAA ofcials have become exceedingly
obstructive. As an example, one issue
AOPA has had to deal with recently
is where an experienced CAA ofcial
refused a registration request for an aircraft
weighing 476 kg because it does not meet
the regulatory requirement of a maximum of
600 kg. The email correspondence between
the ofcial, the aircraft owner and several
other individuals who became involved in
the correspondence became farcical. The
ofcial was adamant that 467kg did not
“meet” the 600kg requirement. Another
CAA ofcial jumped in in support of
this contention. Another insisted that the
regulation was not clear and the wording
would have to be revised to clarify the
already clear wording. Ultimately, the
ofcial declared that this was a personnel
licensing issue and would have to be taken
up with that department.
The CAA’s grounding of CemAir
was another famous example of frivolous
misinterpretation of the rules designed to
frustrate legitimate aircraft operators.
Many who nd themselves victims of
these obstructive tactics assume that the
basis is just due to stupidity or incompetence,
but it appears to us that it is a deliberate
tactic that is selectively applied.
RIGHTS
The scheme of applying these tactics in
order to inuence transformational outcomes
is deeply contrary to the letter and spirit
of constitutional rights. The constitution
provides opportunities to everyone, but
allows citizens the choice of whether they
wish to exercise those rights or not.
CAA’s annual reports show that they are
deeply dedicated to transformation of these
embarrassing statistics – even if it means
that they must trample upon everyone’s
rights and destroy the very industry they are
obliged to serve.
PS: “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” is
a phrase describing the persuasive power of
numbers, particularly the use of statistics to
bolster weak arguments. It is also sometimes
colloquially used to doubt statistics used to
prove an opponent’s point.
The phrase was popularized in the
United States by Mark Twain (among
others), who attributed it to the British prime
minister Benjamin Disraeli: “There are
three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and
statistics.”
Table B - White males still dominate the
pilot body - but not through lack of trying
to stimulate interest in other groups.
