NEWS & EVENTS - PERSONNEL
7 March 2003
SAAF lost 58 pilots last year
Personnel
A total of 58 pilots, with several years experience each, left the South African Air Force last year, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said today. Replying to a question in the National Assembly from Adriaan Blaas (NNP), he said 67 pilots left the air...
13 February 2003
Russia honours SA helicopter pilots
Personnel
The Russian government honoured nine South Africans in Cape Town today for their part in last year's rescue of scientists and crewman from a ship which was trapped in the Antarctic pack ice. The five helicopter pilots, three flight engineers and ...
6 December 2002
Crewmember falls to his death
Personnel
An Air Force officer died after apparently falling from a landed plane and breaking his neck. Sergeant-major Jan Jerling (36) died shortly after the accident on the runway in Alldays, Limpopo. A post mortem will be done to determine the cause of his ...
18 November 2002
Blast at range kills SAAF member
Personnel
A Sergeant-Major from Air Force Base Louis Trichardt was killed today when a device exploded at at the SAAF's Roodewal bombing range in the Limpopo province.SABC news...
28 October 2002
Black pilot makes history - again
Personnel
South Africa's most senior fully qualified black fighter pilot, Captain Musa "Midnight" Mbhokota, has made history -- again. In a joint exercise in Sweden with the chief of the South African Air Force, Lieutenant General Roelf Beukes, h...
16 October 2002
10 top fighter pilots in SAAF
Personnel
The South African Air Force has 10 operational fighter pilots to fly its frontline Cheetah aircraft, MPs heard on Wednesday.Speaking in the National Assembly, Deputy Defence Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge said the SAAF's budget allocation was...
30 September 2002
SAAF wants more affirmative action pilots/navigators
Personnel
The SAAF has invited uniformed Black (African) members of the SANDF to send applications for Pilot/Navigator training to the recruitment office. The main reason is that recruitment for the October 2002 Pilot/Navigator intake did not attract eno...
18 September 2002
New appointments announced
Personnel
Brig Gen Happy A. Bhembe, currently at Base Support System Group at Air Command, appointed as Director Logistics at the Air Command wef 01 December 2002.Col Tertia Jacobs promoted to the rank of Brig Gen and appointed as Director Technical Air Servic...
3 September 2002
Pilots 'stripped' of insignia
Personnel
Air Force officers experienced a sudden demotion in rank this week despite having done nothing wrong.To be addressed as "private" even though they are seasoned pilots was too much for some, while the rankless pilots also caused consternatio...
17 August 2002
SA Military gets new insignia
Personnel
The SA National Defence Force is set to adopt a new system of rank insignia for all four its services at a parade on September 2. The new insignia would reflect the national coat of arms adopted in 2000. Many of the current insignia still reflected t...
2 July 2002
Update on new rank insignia
Personnel
More information on the delayed implementation of the new SANDF insignia and the new SANDF medals can now be released. The new rank insignia will be paraded at a SANDF parade in Pretoria on 2 September 2002. The SANDF will then officially...
1 July 2002
Calling all 80 ANS staff and pupils
Personnel
This year is the Golden Jubilee of 80 Air Navigation School! They are trying to track down all aircrew and students who have been trained by the school, as well as all permanent staff members in order to invite them to their 50th anniversary to be he...
20 June 2002
Calling all ex-17 Squadron members
Personnel
17 Squadron at AFB Swartkop will publish a pictorial history of its helicopter operations from 1957 to 2002.A team at 17 Squadron is busy compiling a photographic history of its helicopter operations. Dated photographs, graphics and newspaperclipping...
10 April 2002
SAAF pilots
Personnel
The SA Air Force says the availability of pilots is cyclical. It can therefore not always ensure that there are sufficient pilots, it told Erika Gibson, military correspondent for the Afrikaans Gauteng daily, Beeld. The best it can do is to be prepar...
19 March 2002
63 pilots left SAAF, 30 for better jobs
Personnel
The SAAF lost 63 pilots last year - 30 of them to better job opportunities, Defence Minister Mosiuona Lekota said in Parliament.In a written reply to a question, he said the contracts of 16 pilots expired, six took voluntary severence packages, five ...
22 February 2002
New commander at 44 Squadron
Personnel
Lt Col Billy Port has assumed command of the 44 Squadron, a transport unit based at Waterkloof AFB. He succeeds Lt Col Hermann Olmesdahl who has been promoted. The unit flies the Casa 235, Casa 212 and Cessna 185.Defence Systems Daily ...
25 January 2002
SAAF flies into another shortage
Personnel
Shortly after the air force was given a temporary reprieve for its fuel and pilot shortages, it appears that only three full-time air-traffic controllers will be available as from the middle of February to man the Waterkloof air base, the air force&#...
23 January 2002
Where are the new BBJ pilots?
Personnel
President Thabo Mbeki's new business jet is to be delivered later this year, but manning the jet may become a problem as the Air Force faces pilot shortages.Only six operational pilots (three crews of two each) out of the entire Air Force qualify...
9 January 2002
SANDF trainees don't cut it
Personnel
Erica GibsonAt least 70 of the 152 officers in training at the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) Gymnasium in Heidelberg passed this year despite the fact that they had failed the final exam.According to the SANDF, each trainees' average marks fo...
9 January 2002
Pilot training standards high as ever
Personnel
The SA National Defence Force says its pilot training standards are as tough as ever following reports that standards are being manipulated along racial lines.The SA National Defence Force on Wednesday said its pilot training standards were as tough ...
9 January 2002
Pilot training standards are as tough as ever
Personnel
The SA National Defence Force on Wednesday said its pilot training standards were as tough as ever. The statement follows concerns expressed in media reports that on one hand training standards were being dropped in order to qualify more pilots from ...
14 December 2001
New SANDF rank insignia to be released
Personnel
Following up from the news update on 10 May 2001, the new rank insignia is scheduled to be released on 26 April 2002....
3 December 2001
Pupil pilots to get wings
Personnel
On 6 December, 23 pupil pilots of Pilots course 99/01 will be given their wings at a ceramony to be held at CFS Langebaanweg. As part of the ceramony, 16 Astras will fly overhead in diamond formation. Well done to course leader Lt. Ben Arnold and the...
29 October 2001
South African "bodyguards" to Bujumbura, Burundi
Personnel
The first 240-strong contingent of South African tropps arrived in Burundi from AFB Waterkloof via an SAA Boeing 747SP today. The 240 soldiers, most of them logistics and technical support specialists, are the first group of a total of 701 South Afri...
17 September 2001
SAAF Pilots Course has no CO's!
Personnel
Pilots course 99/01 made history when they were presented with their rank not so long ago - the first pupil pilots course in 80 years with no candidate officers (CO's) on course.Towards the end of last year, just after the course had all go...
SAAF lost 58 pilots last year
Personnel
A total of 58 pilots, with several years experience each, left the South African Air Force last year, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said today. Replying to a question in the National Assembly from Adriaan Blaas (NNP), he said 67 pilots left the air...
Russia honours SA helicopter pilots
Personnel
The Russian government honoured nine South Africans in Cape Town today for their part in last year's rescue of scientists and crewman from a ship which was trapped in the Antarctic pack ice. The five helicopter pilots, three flight engineers and ...
Crewmember falls to his death
Personnel
An Air Force officer died after apparently falling from a landed plane and breaking his neck. Sergeant-major Jan Jerling (36) died shortly after the accident on the runway in Alldays, Limpopo. A post mortem will be done to determine the cause of his ...
Blast at range kills SAAF member
Personnel
A Sergeant-Major from Air Force Base Louis Trichardt was killed today when a device exploded at at the SAAF's Roodewal bombing range in the Limpopo province.SABC news...
Black pilot makes history - again
Personnel
South Africa's most senior fully qualified black fighter pilot, Captain Musa "Midnight" Mbhokota, has made history -- again. In a joint exercise in Sweden with the chief of the South African Air Force, Lieutenant General Roelf Beukes, h...
10 top fighter pilots in SAAF
Personnel
The South African Air Force has 10 operational fighter pilots to fly its frontline Cheetah aircraft, MPs heard on Wednesday.Speaking in the National Assembly, Deputy Defence Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge said the SAAF's budget allocation was...
SAAF wants more affirmative action pilots/navigators
Personnel
The SAAF has invited uniformed Black (African) members of the SANDF to send applications for Pilot/Navigator training to the recruitment office. The main reason is that recruitment for the October 2002 Pilot/Navigator intake did not attract eno...
New appointments announced
Personnel
Brig Gen Happy A. Bhembe, currently at Base Support System Group at Air Command, appointed as Director Logistics at the Air Command wef 01 December 2002.Col Tertia Jacobs promoted to the rank of Brig Gen and appointed as Director Technical Air Servic...
Pilots 'stripped' of insignia
Personnel
Air Force officers experienced a sudden demotion in rank this week despite having done nothing wrong.To be addressed as "private" even though they are seasoned pilots was too much for some, while the rankless pilots also caused consternatio...
SA Military gets new insignia
Personnel
The SA National Defence Force is set to adopt a new system of rank insignia for all four its services at a parade on September 2. The new insignia would reflect the national coat of arms adopted in 2000. Many of the current insignia still reflected t...
Update on new rank insignia
Personnel
More information on the delayed implementation of the new SANDF insignia and the new SANDF medals can now be released. The new rank insignia will be paraded at a SANDF parade in Pretoria on 2 September 2002. The SANDF will then officially...
Calling all 80 ANS staff and pupils
Personnel
This year is the Golden Jubilee of 80 Air Navigation School! They are trying to track down all aircrew and students who have been trained by the school, as well as all permanent staff members in order to invite them to their 50th anniversary to be he...
Calling all ex-17 Squadron members
Personnel
17 Squadron at AFB Swartkop will publish a pictorial history of its helicopter operations from 1957 to 2002.A team at 17 Squadron is busy compiling a photographic history of its helicopter operations. Dated photographs, graphics and newspaperclipping...
SAAF pilots
Personnel
The SA Air Force says the availability of pilots is cyclical. It can therefore not always ensure that there are sufficient pilots, it told Erika Gibson, military correspondent for the Afrikaans Gauteng daily, Beeld. The best it can do is to be prepar...
63 pilots left SAAF, 30 for better jobs
Personnel
The SAAF lost 63 pilots last year - 30 of them to better job opportunities, Defence Minister Mosiuona Lekota said in Parliament.In a written reply to a question, he said the contracts of 16 pilots expired, six took voluntary severence packages, five ...
New commander at 44 Squadron
Personnel
Lt Col Billy Port has assumed command of the 44 Squadron, a transport unit based at Waterkloof AFB. He succeeds Lt Col Hermann Olmesdahl who has been promoted. The unit flies the Casa 235, Casa 212 and Cessna 185.Defence Systems Daily ...
SAAF flies into another shortage
Personnel
Shortly after the air force was given a temporary reprieve for its fuel and pilot shortages, it appears that only three full-time air-traffic controllers will be available as from the middle of February to man the Waterkloof air base, the air force&#...
Where are the new BBJ pilots?
Personnel
President Thabo Mbeki's new business jet is to be delivered later this year, but manning the jet may become a problem as the Air Force faces pilot shortages.Only six operational pilots (three crews of two each) out of the entire Air Force qualify...
SANDF trainees don't cut it
Personnel
Erica GibsonAt least 70 of the 152 officers in training at the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) Gymnasium in Heidelberg passed this year despite the fact that they had failed the final exam.According to the SANDF, each trainees' average marks fo...
Pilot training standards high as ever
Personnel
The SA National Defence Force says its pilot training standards are as tough as ever following reports that standards are being manipulated along racial lines.The SA National Defence Force on Wednesday said its pilot training standards were as tough ...
Pilot training standards are as tough as ever
Personnel
The SA National Defence Force on Wednesday said its pilot training standards were as tough as ever. The statement follows concerns expressed in media reports that on one hand training standards were being dropped in order to qualify more pilots from ...
New SANDF rank insignia to be released
Personnel
Following up from the news update on 10 May 2001, the new rank insignia is scheduled to be released on 26 April 2002....
Pupil pilots to get wings
Personnel
On 6 December, 23 pupil pilots of Pilots course 99/01 will be given their wings at a ceramony to be held at CFS Langebaanweg. As part of the ceramony, 16 Astras will fly overhead in diamond formation. Well done to course leader Lt. Ben Arnold and the...
South African "bodyguards" to Bujumbura, Burundi
Personnel
The first 240-strong contingent of South African tropps arrived in Burundi from AFB Waterkloof via an SAA Boeing 747SP today. The 240 soldiers, most of them logistics and technical support specialists, are the first group of a total of 701 South Afri...
SAAF Pilots Course has no CO's!
Personnel
Pilots course 99/01 made history when they were presented with their rank not so long ago - the first pupil pilots course in 80 years with no candidate officers (CO's) on course.Towards the end of last year, just after the course had all go...
