Air Crew on the various SAAF helis are:
A109: Pilot, Flight Engineer BK117: Pilot, Flight Engineer Lynx: Pilot, Tactical Officer Rooivalk: Pilot, Weapons Systems Officer Oryx: Pilot, Co-Pilot, Flight Engineer
These are your basic options for helicopter aircrew. Pilots and co-pilots are trained at Langebaan with a helicopter operational conversion at Bloemfontein as per the many other threads on this forum. Flight Engineers are technical members, usually Aircraft Fitters or Avionics, who after a few years of technical experience get selected as FE. Tactical Officers and Weapons Systems Officers can be pilots or navigators who are trained by the respective squadron to fullfill the role of TO or WSO in the cockpit.
Other less known options for helicopter crew are: Test Flight Engineer - Holds an Engineering degree (usually Elec or Mech) and completes 1 year Test Flight Engineers (same as Test Pilots) course, usually in America. Based at Bredasdorp and acts as aircrew in various aircraft cockpits for test flights as required. Aerial Photographer - SAAF trained photographer that flies with on various aircraft from time to time for photography purposes. MSAR (Mountain Search and Rescue) - Civilian members volunteering. Training is done by Mountain Club of South Africa and when you reach a certain level of competency, you are allowed on the heli-rescue team. Trains about once a month with the SAAF chopper squadron in their area and responds to rescues when needed. Although not technically classified as aircrew, they work very closely with the aircrew in and out of the heli and are highly professional.
Although I did not directly answer your question, perhaps you will find some useful info in this post.
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