How to become a Pilot in South Africa

How to become a Pilot in South Africa – Do you want to fly Airplanes? Ask yourself; what do you want to do when flying? Just have a Pilot licence to fly around with, maybe take a friend or two along with your own airplane or a rented airplane?

If this is what you want to do, then you need a PPL (Private Pilot Licence)
Do you want to earn money with your Flying? Then you need a CPL (Commercial Pilot Licence)
Do you want to fly the big boys, the Airliners? Then you will need an ATPL (Airline Transport Pilot Licence)

Also Read THE AVIATION ALPHABET (The Phonetic Alphabet)

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What is a PPL?

This is a globally recognised pilot’s license that enables you to fly an aircraft for pleasure or business, with friends or family. You may however not fly at night or for remuneration. You would share the same air spaces as all the airliners and other aviators, with all the same responsibilities.

What is a night rating?

This is an additional course that works hand in hand with your PPL. Air law states that 15 minutes before sunrise and 15 minutes after sunset you may fly with your PPL.  A night rating enables you to fly at any time, day or night. This course gives a very basic idea of instrument flying and the dangers of flying with insufficient visual reference to the ground or horizon.

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What is a commercial licence?

This is a pilot licence that enables you to fly for remuneration. You would have completed your full instrument rating which would enable you to fly the aircraft with reference to the instruments only. By now you would also have done your multi engine rating. Although you can do a single-engine commercial licence, we recommend the multi-engine rating, as most charter and airline aircraft are multi-engine aircraft.

Time to complete your training:

PPL full time    – approx 12 to 16 weeks

PPL part time   – approx 6 to 9 months

Commercial full time – approx 15 to 18 months

Commercial part time – approx 24 to 30 months

These times are given as an idea of what we have experienced throughout the years we have been involved in flight training. We have had many students that complete the training in a shorter period of time, so it ultimately depends on the student. All training is done on a “one-on-one” basis so the pace and program is flexible and will be set out by you and your instructor.

Now, the Cost +/- R110k for all the Training requirements + R10k for additions such Medical, examination fees, insurance, issuing the PPL licence and more.

*please note this is only estimate as on December 2017 prices.
Do not let the cost scare you away! With planning and determination, anything is possible. We suggest contacting your local flight school. If you are in Gauteng we recommend contacting EAGLE AIR (PTY) Ltd at Office 012 543 1929, Email: info@eagleair.co.za, web: www.eagleair.co.za or Facebook: Eagle Air (Pty) Ltd.

Okay, now you have your PPL and you want to do more… Go for a Night Rating with Eagle Air

*Night Rating enables the pilot to operate an aircraft at night – optional for PPL, but required for CPL

The estimated cost for this is R24k

Hereafter, you want to start making flying your full-time career. You will need your Commercial Pilots Licence (CPL) The cost for your CPL is an estimated

R 390 642.00 (SUMMARY FOR This is from Zero flying hours to CPL WITH A SINGLE ENGINE AIRCRAFT)

R 438 067.00 (SUMMARY FOR This is from Zero flying hours to CPL WITH MULTI ENGINE AIRCRAFT)

**This prices is based on December 2017 EAGLE AIR training program which is also in line with SACAA minimum requirements to obtain the desired licence. Meaning the price can increase depending on student performance, aptitude and dedication.

Now that you have your CPL, Eagle Air can help you get your ATPL, the costing and training requirements is calculated per individuals needs and this is not specified in this article, please contact Eagle Air or your local flight school for more information.

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Why do Aviation Central recommend Eagle Air?

TR Eagle Air (Pty) Ltd has been in operation as an elite flight school for more than 10 years and has as such been registered as an Aircraft Training Organization with the South African Civil Aviation Authority.

Eagle Air is situated at Wonderboom National Airport, Pretoria South Africa. We have a fully functional Air Traffic Control Tower, with a ground frequency so students are exposed to radio work from the start and this creates confident and polished pilots.  Our pledge to all our clients is to provide safe, efficient and cost effective flight training.

The training area designated to our airport is only five minutes of flight time from take-off.  This means no wasted time and money whilst flying to remote training areas, as is often the case.

Eagle Air uses the most reputable maintenance organisation on the airport. Safety is our main concern!  The maintenance facility exposes pilots to the mechanical aspects of aircraft maintenance thus enhancing their total understanding of aviation.

Eagle Air is a flight school devoted to producing pilots that are “marketable” in the aviation industry. We have a “train to instruct” package available whereby successful candidates, after completion of their training, can be employed as flight instructors at Eagle Air.

Eagle Air’s application for a licence charter division (Part 135) that exposes pilots to the real aviation ‘day to day’ flying world is pending.  Our application for a charter licence includes medical evacuations (Part 138).  The application should be finalized within a number of months.  The latter would also enhance our pilots opportunities for successful employment.

Eagle Air have a wide range of aircraft available for training, advanced training and type ratings.  Eagle Air’s Operational Specifications enables us to provide training on aircraft ranging from Single Engine Piston, Complex Single Engine Piston, Piston Twins and Jet (Twin Turbine).

Eagle Air provide the following training…

Fixed wing:  PPL Training, CPL Training, ATPL Training, Instructors rating, Night rating, Instrument rating and Jet ratings.

Rotary:  PPL training, CPL training, Instructor ratings.

Eagle air also has the following Aircraft for Single prop to Buz Jet!

Fixed wing fleet: 

6 x Cessna 172

5 x Cherokee 180

1 x Piper Arrow II

1 x Piper Arrow III

3 x Seneca II

1 x Cessna 402

1 x Cessna 210

1 x Barron 55

1 x Cessna Citation 500 Jet

 Rotary Fleet:

4 x Robinson 22

4 x Robinson 44

2 x Squirrels

1 x Augusta 109

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You got your CPL and want to build more hours, this is the part that takes long and can cost the most, keep this options in mind.

Fly scenic tours

Many visitors to South Africa and also local guys want to see landmarks and game views from the sky.

Fly photographers

Aerial photography flying is also an option as photographers need to get photographs of properties, buildings and other landmarks. This is normally slower and lower altitude

Banner Towing

Although not as exciting and looks boring, towing banners is a though job does require a lot of skill. An advantage is the location is often over Sport events, beaches and other public events

Share flight time

If you have a friend that is also hour building, share hours where legally possible and this reducing your cost by sharing the cost per flight. This also allows for skill sharing.

Become a flight instructor

A job guaranteed to make you a better pilot is that of flight instruction, analysing your student’s flying will enhance your own skills and you will achieve the required hours quickly. These hours also look good in your logbook when applying for that airline job on which you have your eye. An experienced flight instructor has an extra trump card; airlines need training staff and, in the event of a medical issue you have something to fall back on as you can be utilized in simulator training.  Read more on Eagle Air’s State-of-the-art Flight Simulator

Do Skydiving flights

This can be very exciting work quick turnaround on busy days between jumps and safety of skydivers is a MUST

Do some crop Spraying

An agricultural pilot or crop duster usually requires a few more flying hours than the other jobs previously mentioned because of the fact that it requires low slow flying. This is also only a seasonal job.

Work at an airport

Another way to get flight time is to actually pay for flying time. When you work at an airport you might get a discounted rate on your flight rental time, which will allow flying at a much-discounted rate.

Do whatever it takes to get your flight time in and get that sought-after job at the airline on which you have set your sites!

To see one man’s success story, Click here

If you do have a unique Flight training experience please share with us, send your story to us to admin@aviationcentral.co.za

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Patrick Davidson, 35 Year old Port Elizabeth Aerobatic pilot

Patrick Davidson, Port Elizabeth aerobatic pilot Patrick Davidson felt pretty special after being hand-picked to compete in the Red Bull Air Race Challenger Cup. Patrick had lots of reason to feel this way, after being SA’s top preforming pilot in the WAC 2017 held at Malalane, South Africa in September 2017 and now being part of the Red Bull Challenger Cup. Patrick will fly the Edge 540 in the Challenger Cup. Patrick flew his Sukhoi 31, Reg ZS-SUK, in the WAC2017 and finished at the 13th Spot, NOT Bad…..
To follow Patrick on Facebook click here.
To Read more on the Edge 540 that Patrick will fly in the Challenger Cup click here
To Read more on Patrick’s Redbull profile click here

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What is The Challenger Cup? “The Challenger Cup offers a new generation of talented pilots from around the world a chance to experience the thrills of the sport.  Pilots will be racing for Challenger Cup points. The twin aims of the Challenger Cup are to give new pilots the chance to develop their low altitude flying skills under racing conditions and further enhance the overall safety of this new dimension in Motorsport.”

Patrick took the time to write us his own story while in the Netherlands for his *SWET training.
*Shallow Water Egress Training

Read Patrick’s own story:

One of my first vivid memories was of me at about 7 years old and getting strapped into a Pitts S2B if my memory recalls MMZ was the reg, i had complained a few times to my dad that i could not see and that the belts were too

ZS-MMS Pitts S2B

tight…his standard response for most things in life, still to this day was, ‘you’ll be alright once we get going!’ We continued to get airborne and to ‘watch’ from the air the late Collin Nelson in his Decathlon doing some aeros, or what i could see at least, followed by a few loops, rolls, stall turns and so on, which was then followed by me puking all over myself and the plane and yes this is how i decided to become an aerobatic pilot believe it or not! My dad had me clean up the mess and desperate to do better I asked the following day if we could go up again and again and again until such time as i was able to fly the figures myself without feeling sick and it was from then I was sure this is what I wanted to do, not only aerobatics but FLY! I was lucky enough to have my dad mentor me from such a young age and continued flying aeros in a/c such as Yak 52, Zlin 142, Sukhoi 29, T6 and a few others. I was able to reach the rudders and all other required implements by around 12 and with the take-off and landing skills of my world champ safety pilot Mr Timofeev I was able to compete in the wild coast in a Suk 29 in the graduate class and to win.

T6 ZU-AZX Photo by Pete van der Spek

I continued to fly as much as my dad would allow spending most wends at Seaview in and around some incredible people that my dad had met/invited to visit and coach him over the years, from WW2 German fighter pilots to Peter Besenye and the likes. Seeing the pictures and hearing the ‘war’ stories these guys had to tell over a few beers around the bar at Seaview was more than enough to make me want to continue reaching skywards to a level I could only  hope/imagine would be anywhere close to where these guys were or had been. This coupled with my dads ever willingness to put time aside to teach and guide along was/is the reason i am where I am today! My dad and I had discussed that at 17 I would plan to do my first solo on my 17th b-day in our T6 ZU-AZX, my dad had earmarked my ‘legal’ instructor the late Tedd Lundt an ex RAF Hunter pilot to drill me to completion and the lord knows I really needed some drilling as at this age girls and boozing had come into the picture, good thing my wife Liana rocked up on the scene and gave me some much needed direction! Long story short I completed my training and before school on the 7th June 1999 i went solo from PE main in my Harvard, Awesome I had done it, but now needed a lift to school as I still had no drivers license! I started flying airshows almost immediately and with my dad competing still at the time, this was a given for me too. I competed in the Harvard to start, progressing to a Yak 52 then the Suk 29 and eventually the Extra 300L, which took me to my first National championship title in 2007 and another 3 Advanced titles (as this was the highest level in SA at the time) thereafter. Mark Hensman then had a bright idea to start flying Unlimited with Nigel joining shortly after, I had made a decision to remain at Advanced for a year more so i could compete at the AWAC the following year. With this said, I had a number of top ten placings at AWAC with the highest being a 3rd overall in 2014. By this time I was already flying Unlimited in RSA and if my memory serves me had won 2 SA unlimited titles flying my much loved SUK 31. In 2014 I was invited to fly at the Sky GP of aerobatics held in Durban, I managed to pull off a 2nd place to the then current WAC champ Francois LeVot, continuing on this positive note I was able to proceed and win this same event from Rob Holland in second in 2016. Late in 2016 I made contact with RB SA in connection with the RBAR and before I looked again I was at the first training camp in Ocania Spain being coached by the worlds best air race pilots!  On the 1st Sept 2017 i was assigned the title of both Hella and red bull athlete in SA and in Nov 2017 I was announced as South Africa’s first entrant into the RBAR challenger cup, quite a moment to say the least! From then it has really been a blur from media-tours, a second visit to the RB DTC and as i write this i have just completed my SWET training in Den Helder Netherlands. So with the support of my family and 2 incredible sponsors namely HELLA and RB, i can’t wait to put RSA on the podium in the 2018 Challenger series and yes I have confirmed they have our anthem…!

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Patrick, His Wife and Daughter just after completing his last flight at the WAC2017

From Patrick’s Facebook page

Got the girl, the plane and the runway! Life is good!

Below is some YouTube video on South Africa’s new Aviation Star Patrick Davidson!

SU-31 costume change! 3 Days from plain to Red Bull / Hella plane

90 seconds with Patrick Davidson, ShortFinalTV got to catch up with Patrick at the Durban Sky Grand Prix earlier this year after he finished in 2nd place.

Patrick Davidson training for World Aerobatics Championship 2017 in his SU-31

Patrick Davidson shows us the Harvard he did his PPL in

Johannesburg and Cape Town Route becoming more popular by the day!

South African air corridor between Johannesburg and Cape town is becoming more and more popular by the day. The route has a distance of 1271km.
In 2010, the route was 12th in the most popular airline route between any two cities, in 2013 the route slotted in at no 10 and now for 2017 the route slotted in at no 9 with 31914 flights.

When it came to international routes, Hong Kong to Taipei topped the list with 29,494 flights a year.
Kuala Lumpur to Singapore is the second busiest (29,383 flights), and Jakarta to Singapore at third, (26,872 flights).
Of the top ten, eight routes were Asian. The busiest route outside of Asia is New York to Toronto, the sixth busiest with 17,116 flights a year, followed by Dublin to London.

FACT-FAOR Air Route

World’s 10 busiest air routes 2017 (Between any two Cities)

Jeju-Seoul, South Korea: 64,991
Melbourne-Sydney, Australia: 54,519
Mumbai-Delhi, India: 47,462
Fukuoka-Tokyo Haneda, Japan: 42,835
Rio de Janeiro-Sao Paulo Congonhas, Brazil: 39,325
Sapporo-Tokyo, Japan: 38,389
Los Angeles-San Francisco, USA: 34,897
Brisbane-Sydney, Australia: 33,765
Cape Town-Johannesburg, South Africa: 31,914 flights
Beijing-Shanghai, China: 30,029

World’s busiest international air routes

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Hong Kong-Taipei: 29,494
Kuala Lumpur-Singapore: 29,383
Jakarta-Singapore: 26,872
Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur: 20,890
Hong Kong-Shanghai: 20,818
New York La Guardia-Toronto: 17,116
Hong Kong-Seoul Incheon: 16,366
Beijing-Hong Kong: 14,592
Dublin-London Heathrow: 14,556
Bangkok-Singapore: 14,455

Source:http://www.traveller.com.au and wikipedia

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Best of 2017

In early December 2017 we requested you, our followers to send us your best photos of 2017, we did receive some pretty good photos. Thank you to all that send photos 🙂
For 2018 Photo opportunities, view our 2018 calendar… 

Alan Stephens

North American P 51 D Mustang “Mustang Sally”
Menno Parsons

Alan Richert

“Here’s two from my collection. Was really hard to select only 2, but these are a bit different to the normal images people see to give some variety.”

Newcastle Airshow 2017.

SAAF Museum Airshow 2017

Charmaine Pypers – Charz Photography

“Im an amateur photographer and love shooting sports, it was a very challenging day for photographers with the wind pumping, but I had a blast.  I love the Silver Falcons in the air and hope you find my images good enough for your “best of” publication.”

Langebaanweg Airshow 2017

Langebaanweg Airshow 2017

Mark Payze

“Just a cheeky photo after a nice training flight”

Just a cheeky photo after a nice training flight

Pieter Cronje

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Frikkie Swart

IMG6227 RV Fly-in. – “Pilot landing skills tested to the limit in a ridiculous strong and gusting crosswind at the RV Fly-in at Kitty Hawk Airfield.”

Airbus 380 – “Speedbird on final approach to FAOR.”

Renier Siebrits

“1) Mango Airlines, flown by Scully Levin, performing with Team 81 of the Silver Falcons at the Langebaanweg Airshow.

2) Photo of the Gripen C display at AFB Langebaanweg flown by Major Geoffrey ‘Spartan’ Cooper. The slight condensation above the cockpit and wing and the visible shockwaves in the afterburner makes it unique”

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Great Dane

“MAO Boeing C-17A Globemaster III Qatar Emiri Air Force When departing Jo’burg on an airliner and luck is on your side. 

ZS-RNV Aerospatiale SA-316B Alouette III Helivate Before a fun filled flipping day at Krugersdorp in this beautiful classic.”

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Charmaine Oliver

“This was the end of the annual spring fest in Secunda. The Pitts did an amazing sunset display over Lake Umuzi and I captured this photo as they arrived in Secunda.”
Please support Charmaine’s cause click here to read more

Pitts over Lake Umuzi

Dian Townsend

“Theze photos were taken at the SAAF Museum Air Show at Zwartkops afb. I used a canon powershot sx530hs camera with a tripod. ”

de Havilland DH.115 Vampire

Silver Falcons PC7