Air force hampered by exodus

Erika Gibson

Pretoria - The brand new jet-fighters, sea- and land helicopters and giant transport aircraft recently delivered to South Africa could be languishing in hangars - if the current wave of resignations of technicians and pilots continues.

Replying to written questions in Parliament, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said 535 technical officers and 71 pilots have resigned from the air force in the past two years.

DA defence spokesperson Roy Jankielsohn said it was clear from Lekota's response that the 24 new Hawk fighter-trainers, 28 Gripen jet fighters, 30 Agusta helicopters, four maritime choppers and eight Airbus transport planes - will be at risk if the current exodus carries on.

The chief of the air force, Lieutenant General Carlo Gagiano, confirmed that Hawk jet instructors recently left for the private sector, and this could hamper training efforts.

Jankielsohn said the government should have known that it was spending billions on aircraft that could not be deployed optimally and sensibly, because the country did not have the required capacity.

Bigger workload

The resignations meant that remaining personnel have a bigger workload and will also have to monitor newly recruited technicians and pilots, who cannot make up for lost expertise.

The air force has already begun contracting flights to commercial airlines.

Pilots are going over to commercial airlines in South Africa, which are expanding rapidly, and a flight school in Australia, which has been contracted to train pilots for China and India, is lapping up all qualified personnel.

The shortage of instructors at the Central Flight School Langebaanweg is another problem. There are currently 50 student pilots.

The ideal instructor-student ratio is roughly 1:1.8 (based on the flight-hours required to qualify).

Earlier this year the ratio was 1:3.8 - a situation that was exacerbated by individuals performing far below average still being allowed to continue flying.

"Approximately four of these students will go for fighter aircraft training, and another four for helicopter flight training. Now there is a bottleneck, because at the advanced flying schools there is also a shortage of instructors," an instructor said.

News24