Author Archives: safairoperations

Journey to the Bottom of the World

Contribution from Neville Desselss In 1993 we were contracted by a company called Adventure Network International (ANI) who needed to fly to Antarctica, which would turn out to be one of of the major highlights in Safair’s history.  I was working in the Marketing section at the time when I received a telephone call fromContinue reading “Journey to the Bottom of the World”

Living the High Life in Angola

Contribution from Neville Desselss During the Angolan bush war, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) was supported by the South African government, and our Hercules was chartered to transport Aid to their teams up in Angola. Their headquarters were in Southern Angola at a place called Jamba. I was the contactContinue reading “Living the High Life in Angola”

Speaking the Universal Language of Africa in Goma

Contribution from Neville Desselss In 2002, the Nyiragongo Volcano at Goma erupted. Lava streamed into the town, causing devastation in its wake, and eventually reached the main runway of the local airstrip. Safair was part of an organisation at the time called SAFREN, donated tonnes of aid to assist in the relief efforts. One ofContinue reading “Speaking the Universal Language of Africa in Goma”

Where’s the Jack?

Contribution from Neville Desselss In 1993/4 we were the first South African registered aircraft permitted back into Kenyan airspace and were contracted by a Kenyan company (Phoenix Aviation), for a series of flights for the United Nations and World Food Program from Nairobi to Mogadishu and Baidoa in Somalia The crew on that mission wereContinue reading “Where’s the Jack?”

Mind the Spitting Snakes

Contribution from Neville Desselss In the late 70s, early 80s, we were requested to wet-lease a Herc for an operation in what was then Zaire, now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Operations Manager at the time, Capt de Jager, Marketing Manager, Maurice de Robillard and I, were sent to discuss the potentialContinue reading “Mind the Spitting Snakes”

Going Nose-where

Contribution by Chris Bester and Fred Brons Goodness knows there have been some interesting times in the history of Safair and we’ve had to employ some interesting tactics from time to time. I recall an instance where we had provided technical support services to a local passenger operator who had fallen well behind on theirContinue reading “Going Nose-where”

Three Structural Achievements

Contribution by Chris Bester The backbone of the technical department who do maintenance on Herc aircraft is the  Structures Group. During my time we were very proud of the capabilities of our structural technicians and the leaders in this group were sent to Lockheed for Advanced Structures courses. Three occasions where structural techs played aContinue reading “Three Structural Achievements”

Shake Bottle Well Before Pouring

Contribution by Chris Bester In aviation, as in life, small things can sometimes make a huge difference. We learnt this lesson in an interesting way thanks to some large drums of engine oil. At one point in our operations, Safair used to purchase engine oil for the Herc engines in two pint tins. Due toContinue reading “Shake Bottle Well Before Pouring”

Mortar Attack in Ethiopia

Contribution by Chris Bester Our adventures on the Hercules aircraft have seen our teams operate in some pretty severe circumstances, and perform some interesting repairs as a result. Rapid decent operations meant that flap track replacements were a pretty regular task and bad runway conditions often resulted for pork chop fitting replacements. One interesting repairContinue reading “Mortar Attack in Ethiopia”