Contributed by Koenie van der Walt

Over the years Safair has always excelled during time of crisis – sometimes under extremely challenging and dangerous conditions, but always completing every operation professionally.

The political climate in Southern Africa during the eighties and early nineties was very uncertain and volatile. During this period Safair was often called upon by the international community at very short notice to assist with various operations.

Early one morning I received a telephone call from the Department of Foreign Affairs who had been contacted by the French Government with need to mobilise a Hercules to be dispatched to Moroni, the capital of the Comoros. We were familiar with the Comoros, having flown many flights to Moroni, with loads of building equipment and material for the Sun International Hotels that were built at the time. It wasn’t a big deal.

The difference with this flight though was that it would fly empty to Moroni and bring back passengers to Johannesburg who had to connect to the Union de Transports Aériens (UTA), service to Paris from Johannesburg that same evening. Some of the conditions were that we had to carry sufficient fuel from Johannesburg to Moroni and back to Johannesburg since there was no fuel available at Moroni. Another condition was that it had to be an all male crew, so our female cabin attendants could not be on the flight as with our normal passenger flights.

Fortunately one of the Hercs had the long range pylon tanks fitted and had been operating with them for a while. The Flight Planning Department quickly did the sector analysis and all was found to be in order to carry round-trip fuel.

The standby crew, plus additional crew were called in and the Herc departed shortly thereafter from Johannesburg for Moroni. The Herc returned to Johannesburg in the late afternoon with none other than Colonel Bob Dennard, the well known and sometimes infamous, French soldier and mercenary with his group of other mercenaries for onward travel to Paris.

Once again, another successful Hercules mission carried out professionally by a dedicated and passionate Safair team!

During the transitional peace period leading up to the Angolan elections, after many years of civilian war in Angola, Safair was once again called upon by the broader international community to come to the rescue. The peace process had been violated with skirmishes which broke out in Luanda between the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) and The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

The South African Government, via the Department of Foreign Affairs, was called upon by many different Governments, who had diplomatic staff based in Luanda, to assist with the immediate evacuation of their staff.

The different Safair departments got together to plan this evacuation operation. Insurance underwriters in London were advised about the situation and asked for insurance cover to send an aircraft in to collect these people. Permission was approved by the underwriters to land in Luanda, with the explicit condition that we be on the ground for a maximum of only three hours per flight. The South African Aviation Authority (then the SADCA) was informed and the Director of the immediately gave approval for the operation to bring back the diplomatic personnel, subject to all the existing aircraft configurations and crew regulations being conformed to.

At the time we only had one Herc available which departed empty form Johannesburg for Luanda. We also had ZS-LSH, a Safair Boeing 707 which was doing a commercial charter from Johannesburg to Entebbe. We managed to ferry that aircraft across to Luanda to collect the remaining stranded people.

I clearly remember the Friday afternoon at Waterkloof Air Force Base proudly watching the flights arrive. The Boeing 707 came in first, followed by the Hercules. Both landed safely with full loads of passengers along with a few dogs and cats.

Naturally the different diplomatic personnel from Luanda were relieved to be safe in South Africa, but also sad having to leave so many local staff and possessions behind in Angola. The Department of Foreign Affairs as well as their international counterparts were highly complimentary towards Safair for this monumental exercise carried out with distinction.

Contributed by Koenie van der Walt

The well known horticulturist Keith Kirsten had a weekly television program on South African TV during the mid 1980s. Keith Kirsten was contacted by the Managing Director of a well know SA Company, asking if he would be interested in doing the landscaping of the gardens at the palace of President Mobuto Sese Seko at Gbadolite on the banks of the Congo River in the north of the former Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

We attended several meetings in Johannesburg, representing Safair during tat October. It was in either 1987 or 1988 I can’t be absolutely sure of the year. It was determined that there would be a “few” flights from Johannesburg, via Walvis Bay and Kinshasa, to Gbadolite. We were to carry all kinds of goods but mainly plants for Keith to use for his landscaping project.

Initially the “few” flights was set to be about 4 or 5 trips. We decided to base our quotation on using the only L100-20, ZS-GSK to perform this operation. ZS-GSK was the first aircraft in the Safair fleet, and unlike the rest of the fleet, it was a -20 and not a -30, meaning it had 1 pallet position less than the -30s.

We presented our proposal and a few days later and were informed that we had the contract to carry the cargo to Gbadolite. The only challenge was that the landscaping project had to be finished before Christmas due to the fact that President Mobuto had invited various dignitaries, including several Presidents, to his palace at Gbadolite for Christmas.

The first flight departed in November and the four or five flights increased well into the twenties. At a very late stage Mbuto decided he also needed a chicken hatchery to be added to the project. This operation was completed successfully with the last flight on the 23^rd December carrying live adult chickens, week-old chicks and eggs for the President to impress his guests at Christmas!

Contributed by Koenie van der Walt

The Hercs became very popular at one time for use in and out of short unpaved runways in the bush, carrying both international as well as local incentive groups. To expand our services within this particular market sector of carrying incentive groups, Safair approached the Vartys who owned Ngala Private Game Reserve with the idea of flying passengers directly into and out of a gravel strip at Ngala.

An airfield inspection was arranged for Captain Bugs van Rooyen, the Chief Pilot at the time, to inspect the existing airstrip and to make recommendations to upgrade it in order for the Hercs to operate there safely. Bugs flew in and out of the strip in a light aircraft so as to familiarise himself with it both from the air as well as on the ground. Bugs completed his report, noting the requirements for the Herc operation and Ngala did the actual work. Another inspection followed with one additional requirement – a small tree had to be removed close to the turning circle.

Several weeks later the first Herc flight operated safely and successfully in and out of Ngala with a South African Financial Services Company incentive group on board. More charters followed to Ngala and soon the Hercs were serving other game lodges in South Africa and as far afield as Mokuti Lodge in northern Namibia.

Contributed by Koenie van der Walt

Due to the Hercules aircraft excellent short take off and landing (STOL) capabilities the Safair fleet featured in some ground-breaking operations to carry civilian passengers. This was at a time where the civil aviation regulations were much more relaxed, compared to what they are today.

Although the Hercs are predominantly freighter aircraft, we successfully marketed and positioned the them as an exceptional African bush experience aircraft, which could safely operate in and out of short, unpaved airstrips to carry passengers to exotic African bush destinations from the mid 1980s to the early 1990s. Passengers loved the experience even though flights had to be limited to a maximum of 2,5 hours duration as a result of the noise levels within the cargo compartment! Cabin attendants, trained ladies in Safair uniforms, did the passenger briefing and announcements using a loudhailer to communicate with the passengers during flight.

We had standard economy class airline seats mounted onto aircraft pallets which would be rolled into the cargo hold of the aircraft on a roller system fitted to the aircraft floor. No other aircraft could carry 88 passengers in and out of short airstrips like the Herc could.

Working closely with a South African Destination Management Company (DMC) we assisted them in being awarded the FIAT Uno Italian incentive group. The group consisted of 320 passengers, split into two back-to-back groups of 160 passengers each. This turned out to be a real challenge for Safair, not because of the Herc operation, but because of South African Airways monopoly and objection to the use of the Safair Boeing 707, ZS-LSF which had to operate the route between Johannesburg and Mauritius.

The first group of 160 passengers arrived at Johannesburg onboard an Alitalia service. Upon completion of their Immigration and Customs formalities they boarded the two Hercs (ZS-JIY and ZS-JIZ) for their flights to Skukuza, for onward transfer to a number of private game lodges in the adjacent Sabi Sand Reserve. Three days later the group was collected at Skukuza by the two Hercs and brought back to Johannesburg. Upon arrival the passengers of the first group of 160 passengers completed their Immigration and Customs formalities, and boarded the Boeing 707 for their three day stay in Mauritius.

The second group of 160 passengers had arrived onboard the Alitalia service at Johannesburg. Upon the second group clearing Immigration and Customs they boarded the two Hercs for their flights to Skukuza where they were to stay at the same private game lodges as the first group. Three days later the second group was collected by the two Hercs at Skukuza and brought back to Johannesburg. Upon completion of the required formalities the second group boarded the Boeing 707 which had just returned to Johannesburg with the first group from Mauritius. The second group departed Johannesburg on board ZS-LSF for Mauritius and returned three days later.

This operation was a huge success with a very satisfied client. Our company ATP International has been doing work for this South African DMC ever since and we make use of Safair aircraft wherever we can to this day.

Contributed by Koenie van der Walt

On a spring afternoon in 1986 Ina Hayward, the receptionist at Safair at the time, phoned me to tell me there was a man at reception who wanted to speak to me about chartering a Hercules aircraft. To put the normal procedure into context at the time, I have to mention the following:

We often had enquiries from various people to charter Hercules, most of them never materialising and being far-fetched to put it mildly. the norm was that meeting appointments were normally pre-arranged via telephone for a certain date. So needless to say, I was rather apprehensive when Ina said there was someone at reception who wanted to speak to me.

I asked Ina on the internal telephone line to ask the person for what reason he wanted to charter the Hercules and I could hear the person’s voice in the background telling Ina he wanted to capture certain antelope in Malawi to relocate them to the Kruger National Park.

Being a very enthusiastic nature lover, my interest immediately peaked and I was now ready to meet this person, so I went to reception and met Dr Johan Kriek, a veterinarian, his wife Daleen, and their two young sons, Johann and Jaques.

We proceeded to my office where Johan explained he had obtained a contract from the National Parks Board (now SanParks) as well as the Malawian Government to capture Lichtenstein Hartebeest, Roan Antelope and Sable Antelope in Malawi. The three species would be released in the north of the Kruger National Park, which would be the ideal habitat, particularly for the Lichtenstein Hartebeest which had long been extinct in South Africa.

Within a few minutes of our discussion I was as excited and enthusiastic as Dr Johan Kriek, a lanky vet who dind’t know the meaning of the word “impossible”! This was the start of a lifelong friendship to this day between the two of us!

Johan needed to charter a Herc to carry a helicopter plus a wide variety of equipment, goods, and some personnel from Johannesburg to Muzzy. The Herc would drop them at Muzzy where he would set up his operation and approximately three months later, the airlift operation would commence flying the antelope from Muzzy to the Kruger National Park.

True to Johan’s promise, some three months later a Herc departed with the Safair empty “cattle pens”, and a group of volunteers, from Johannesburg to Mzuzu via Lilongwe. Captain John Pillans, a keen nature lover himself, was in command. The volunteers assisted during the flights to keep the heads of the sedated antelope in the correct position so as to avoid any suffocation.

A tremendous amount of planning went into this operation with so many different people contributing to make it a huge success. Special permission was obtained from all the relevant authorities and two Herc flights were done to carry the Lichtenstein Hartebeest, Roan and Sable Antelope from Mzuzu directly to the airstrip at Punda Maria in the north of the Kruger National Park.

In 1991 the Hercs again featured very prominently when Safair did a second airlift operation for Dr Johan Kriek to relocate 95 Roan Antelope and 65 Sable Antelope. This time we flew the antelope from Lilongwe to Pietersburg (Polokwane) for Johan Kriek’s own project with these species.

Contribution by Koenie van der Walt

During my time as Marketing Services Manager for Safair Freighters and after the name change to SAFAIR I have had the privilege and honour to experience and enjoy many opportunities where the Hercules L-100 fleet of aircraft were used.

Writing about these wonderful machines, it brings back fond memories confirming the extreme versatility of the “Hercs”, as we even to this day, refer to these great STOL aircraft.

Unfortunately I cannot remember the exact dates of all the operations where the Hercs were deployed and served with distinction. During my time very few photos were taken as it had to be done with the old SLR cameras – digital cameras came about later and mobile phones with digital cameras were unheard of! I am therefore relying on my memory, noting the following, which can certainly be elaborated upon by some of my contemporaries at the time.

One such memory relates to the World Skydiving event in Quincy which is in the state of Illinois in the USA.

Safair regularly supplied either one of two Hercules aircraft, ZS-JIZ or ZS-JIY, to Henri and Ursula Schurch of Swiss Boogie, Switzerland to host their annual skydiving event at the end of December at Phalaborwa. Skydivers, mostly from Europe, but also other parts of the world including South Africa, would attend this annual event at Phalaborwa.

Shortly after Swiss Boogie in December 1985 Safair was approached by a group of South African skydivers with the idea of chartering a Herc to be used at a world skydiving event in Quincy, Illinois in the United States. Imagine, a South African Herc to be flown all the way from Johannesburg to Quincy where it would be used daily to lift groups of skydivers to participate in their, shall we say, unusual sport! To cover costs a group of South African skydivers would fly on the aircraft from Johannesburg to Quincy and back. We had standard economy class airline seats mounted on aircraft pallets which were rolled into the aircraft to accommodate the passengers.

An enormous amount of planning went into this operation for ZS-JIZ with three full crews, technical personnel and coordinators to perform this very successful operation. The liaison with the South African Department of Civil Aviation (prior to it becoming known as the SACAA) and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to obtain their permissions alone was a mammoth task!

I cannot remember the exact route with all the different fuel stops and crew rest from Johannesburg to Quincy, return, but it must have been something like this:

Johannesburg – Walvis Bay – Libreville or Sao Tomé – Abidjan – Santa Maria, Azores – St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. I’m unsure where we cleared into the USA before moving on to Quincy.

A world record free fall with 120 skydivers connecting in the air to form a star formation before deploying their parachutes was set at this event.

ZS-JIZ with all supporting crew and personnel performed exceptionally well to make this event the huge success which it turn out to be!