SAHPA AGM 2023 – Chairman’s Annual Report

Section 2 – Operational Issues

2.1 Ab initio students

The number of ab initio students (PG, PPG and HG combined) remained stable:

Of concern is the non-compliance by a small number of instructors who conduct illegal training of ab initio students. This has resulted in a significant number (33) of student licence applications being rejected by the regulator. The misconduct of these instructors is prejudicial to student pilots and it creates a lingering perception that schools are fly-by-night schemes.

SAHPA has escalated these cases to the regulator for enforcement action.

SAHPA cannot mediate in disputes between students and illegal schools. Students who have paid an illegal school for training and who then had their licence applications rejected, should refer the dispute to the Consumer Goods & Services Ombud, alternatively the Small Claims Court, and then make arrangements for re-training with an approved school with a valid DTO certificate.

2.2 Introductory Flight Experience

The Introductory Flight Experience segment has seen significant growth over the past 13 years. COVID had a devastating impact, but the industry is recovering fast.

* Data is missing for 2014 and 2015
** Data is based on the number of ‘Indemnity books’ that are sold in batches to schools.

However, there is a regulatory storm cloud that still hangs over this industry:

CAA published SACAA General Notice ATO PEL2021-ATO001-Rev3-29Oct21 in October 2021 which states that flipping operations under Part 141 are illegal, and instructed that flipping operations must cease and register instead as Part 96 operations, which in turn requires an Air Service Licence.

The requirements for an Air Service Licence (as required by Part 96) are currently unachievable, amongst others:

• it is impossible to obtain Passenger Liability Insurance,
• TFI pilots require a commercial pilots licence, and
• equipment must be serviced by an Authorised Maintenance Organisation.

There is a pending update to the Civil Aviation Act which makes provision for Adventure Flights, however it is not known when this legislation will be promulgated.

The CAA is currently conducting workgroups with industry to amend Part 96 - Commercial Operation of Non-Type Certified Aircraft. SAHPA is involved in these workshops to establish a sustainable and achievable means of compliance for Tandem Flight operations, however this is complicated by the Air Services Licensing Act which falls under the authority of the Department of Transport.

We therefore support and are actively engaged in the development of a suitable regulatory framework to legally conduct Tandem Flights for remuneration, however this must be balanced against the need to separate commercial interests from the recreational aspects of the sport.

2.3 Surveillance of tandem operations

In early 2022, a TFI instructor sent a written complaint to the Director of Civil Aviation, with allegations that SAHPA was engaged in racketeering, price-fixing and other violations of the Competition Act. This misguided complaint resulted in the regulator conducting surveillance of tandem operations at various sites. CAA inspectors concluded that tandem flight operations were illegal flipping operations taking place under the guise of training.

“Please take note that a DTO conducting flight training may not conduct flipping operations as defined in CAR96.01.1(7) as this is not a training flight and would be a contravention of CAR141.08.1(1) & (2) and CAR 141.08.2(1)a) liable to enforcement action under CAR 185.01.2(g).” – Blake Vorster, Head of PEL-Training at CAA.

As all training operations were conducted under the banner of the SAHPA ATO, the accountability for illegal operations lay unfairly on the shoulders of SAHPA Committee members until the suspension and expiry of the SAHPA ATO.

With the widespread adoption of the Part 141 DTO model, there is now a clear separation between SAHPA and commercially-driven school operations.

2.4 The Part 106 Project

In 2019, SAHPA made a proposal for a new Part 106 of the Civil Aviation Regulations (CAR) and Civil Aviation Technical Standards (CATS). SAHPA proposed to extract provisions for paragliding and hang-gliding out of Part 62 and Part 94, and to consolidate these into a dedicated regulatory Part 106 in the same way that other disciplines are catered for:

• Part 68 – Glider Pilot Licence
• Part 69 – Free Balloon Pilot Licence
• Part 71 – RPAS Personnel Licensing
• Part 72 – Remote Pilot Licence
• Part 105 – Parachuting and Dropzones

SAHPA’s proposal for a new Part 106 is therefore a forward-thinking regulatory development which will bring PG/HG in line with international trends.

The Part 106 project has frequently been delayed by the regulatory development process, however in past few weeks significant progress has been made, with both SAHPA and CAA agreeing to proceed with the CARCOM process. It is now expected that Part 106 will be published for public comment in early 2024.

2.5 Disciplinary and Enforcement Action

On the 2nd November, seven tandem instructors launched (with passengers) from Signal Hill directly into an approaching thunderstorm, with some pilots caught in a strong gust front. One of the pilots landed in Sea Point and collided with a motor vehicle. This event attracted significant negative attention on social media, and also the attention of the Department of Transport and the CAA.

SAHPA initiated disciplinary action against these pilots, whilst the CAA conducted their own investigation. All seven pilots were suspended by both SAHPA and the CAA.

In addition, the CAA initiated Part 185 enforcement action against:

• an instructor for landing with his passenger in a security estate without permission,
• two instructors for multiple infringements,
• two instructors for conducting training operations without approval from CAA.

While many of these have been concluded, some are still under investigation and enforcement action by the CAA.

SAHPA and CAA are also firmly addressing the problem of unlicensed speed-wing pilots flying from SAHPA sites, with one speed-wing pilot already undergoing enforcement action, and several more to follow. These self-trained, unlicensed pilots present a significant risk to the public and also SAHPA members, with one high-speed near-miss being reported recently by a tandem pilot.

2.6 Accident Register

This year, SAHPA undertook to consolidate all accident information into a comprehensive Accident Register which contains record of all serious accidents, rescues and fatalities over the past 25 years. It has been a significant task to research, correct and make this information accessible to all members.

The Accident Register has highlighted a number of notable trends, one being:

• In the past 3 years there have been 24 helicopter rescues (at an estimated cost of R1.8m per rescue, or R43m, which is borne by the South African taxpayer). Of these, 19 rescues were of foreign pilots, and 17 of these foreign pilots did not have SAHPA membership.
• In other words, in the last three years a projected R30m of taxpayer funds has been spent on unregistered foreign pilots.

The contents of the Accident Register are beyond the scope of this Annual Report, and you are therefore encouraged to explore the data and discuss with fellow club members.

2.7 Accidents and Fatalities

Eighteen accidents were reported, of which three were fatalities:

• A foreign instructor launching a solo mini-wing at Lion’s Head on 10th January 2023.
• An instructor on a solo cross-country flight near Wolesley on 25th February 2023.
• A tandem passenger who drowned after instructor and passenger landed in the sea on 4th July 2023. This accident is currently under investigation by the Accident and Incident Investigation Division (AIID).

2.8 Aero Club of South Africa

Aero Club of South Africa (AeCSA) membership is a contentious subject, as most SAHPA members do not participate in AeCSA events and thus question the value and benefits of AeCSA membership.

However, AeCSA plays a significant but under-appreciated role in advocating for, and representing SAHPA interests to the Civil Aviation Authority (see 2.10 below). It is vital that SAHPA members remain members of the Aero Club to ensure that this advocacy continues.

The SAHPA Committee has included a proposal (see Resolution 4, below) that SAHPA negotiate and sign a fixed-fee corporate membership with AeCSA, so that being a SAHPA member automatically includes Aero Club membership.

2.9 CAA Fee increase

In the past few years CAA has conducted an Activity Based Costing (ABC) exercise to benchmark their internal processes against fees being charged. Very recently, CAA presented a proposal to significantly increase fees across the industry in line with the “user pays” principle.

However, some very good news: AeCSA engaged in several workshops with CAA to raise concerns about these increases. The CAA finance managers made a significant concession to reduce licence renewal fees for all PPL/NPL licence holders. This has not yet been finalised, however we are confident that members will be pleased with the final outcome.

2.10 Competition & Event Sponsorship

SAHPA sponsored the following competitions and events:

Date	Event	Club	Amount
Dec 2022	Porterville Pre-PWC 2022	Buitepos Paragliding Club	R50 000
June 2023	Barberton 2023	Lowveld Slope Soaring Club	R10 000
Sept 2023	Gatskop 2023	The Glen Paragliding Club	R10 000

These sponsorship are restricted to costs related to Ambulance and Paramedics.

The SAHPA Committee also considered an application for sponsorship for the Wilderness Flying Festival. The committee expressed reservations about the planned dates and strongly advised the WFF planning committee to plan a festival outside of the festive season.

Certain members have expressed their dissatisfaction at the Competition and Event Sponsorship Policy and we have thus included Resolution 5 which allows all members to vote on this issue.

2.11 Site Administration

All SAHPA launch sites are published in the AIP ENR 5.5, a quarterly publication by the CAA. These sites are also communicated to insurance brokers for 3rd Party Liability Aviation Insurance. The SAHPA Site Register has not been updated in over a decade, which means that there a) are listed sites which no longer exist, b) new sites that are not yet recorded and c) launch sites which have moved some distance from the original site.

SAHPA has embarked on a project to update the ENR 5.5 and correct these inaccuracies, and also obtain updated written permission from landowners (as required by CAR Part 94.06.2 (1)(g)). With more than 300 launch sites, and many more landing sites, this is not an insignificant task.

Club members are invited to review the SAHPA Site Register. Safety officers will be requested to assist with missing information.

Current activities

• Obtaining permission from the City of Cape Town for launch and landing sites around the peninsula,
• Obtaining permission from George Municipality for launch and landing sites in the Garden Route Area,
• Registering two new sites at Gericke’s in Wilderness,
• Registering two new launch sites at Kardoesie near Citrusdal,
• Registering a new site at Ruimsig Stadium near Roodepoort,
• Negotiating with the new airport owners in Cape Town, to protect current airspace privileges at Rondebossie.

In 2021, SAHPA initiated a strategic project to design, build and implement the new SAHPA Membership Administration System (MAS). This was to replace the unreliable and now woefully inadequate MS Access-database system. The new MAS has been tested, data imported and the system formally goes live on the 1st October 2023. All renewals and upgrades are already being processed using the new system.

The MAS is designed on the ‘full member lifecycle’ principle. This MAS project has already resulted in significant productivity gains for the SAHPA office and will have a long-lasting impact on membership renewals in future.

The MAS has also created a foundation for further enhancements: depending on the outcome of Resolution 3, the system may be enhanced with additional functionality to streamline the record-keeping tasks of schools/instructors and ensure compliance with Part 141 and Part 96.

2.13 The SAHPA Office

The availability of the SAHPA Office has been affected by common forms of disruption which South Africans have become accustomed to. Some of the issues:

• Load-shedding. SAHPA bought a generator to improve continuity through load-shedding. Unfortunately, extended load-shedding (in excess of 2 hours) means that nearby cellphone towers go offline, which results in the SAHPA Office being unavailable.
• Access to fibre internet. The boundary for fibre access is just 100m away. We have not yet been successful in convincing OpenServ or Octotel to extend their service to the SAHPA Office. Access to fibre would ensure that the SAHPA Office has faster access to web-based services, but will also ensure internet access during longer load-shedding periods. This is ongoing.
• Service Delivery Protests and Land invasions. There have been occasional flare-ups of service delivery protests and land invasions nearby the SAHPA Office, which have raised concerns about employee safety.
• Laptops. Both laptops were replaced in May 2022 as the previous laptops were quite old and had degraded battery life. These new laptops have improved the continuity of the SAHPA Office during load-shedding.

---