Slings Rock!!

This must be one of the greatest Sling pics I have seen.. taken by the Sling USA factory team flying north and east from their home base in Torrance, California, up through Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and South Dakota to Oshkosh in Wyoming, for the world's biggest annual airshow where The Airplane Factory will once again be exhibiting their our Sling range of aircraft - for sale right here in Durban through Durban Skyye, official distributors of these fine aircraft. Mount Rushmore in South Dakota is home to the National Memorial of Presidents which is visited by 3 million tourists each year (compared to the 10 mil that visit the whole of South Africa annually) and it's rare to catch a glimpse of the Presidents by air!

The Sling USA team fly over Mount Rushmore, South Dakota

National Memorial of Presidents in South Dakota, USA

Financing your Aircraft purchase

If you are contemplating the purchase of an aircraft, the banks do consider financing the purchase in a similar way to the way in which car financing is handled. Here are the qualifying criteria spelled out by Standard bank on their website here:

Non-Type Certified Aircraft - ZU registered aircraft:

• The aircraft must be 5 years old or younger;
• There must be more than 10 of a aircraft type registered at the SACAA;
• The aircraft must be assembled by the local distributor that is approved at the Civil Aviation Authority. We will not consider homebuilt kits;
• 20% deposit is required;
• VAT can be funded but must be paid back into the agreement in month four of the repayment plan;
• Maximum repayment period is 60 months
• No Residual Values;
• Aircraft are financed on a Micro-light Instalment sale agreement
• The aircraft must be comprehensively insured for full flight cover for the duration of the finance period.

Information Required on the Aircraft

For valuation purposes and initial application to credit:

Copy of the Aircraft specification sheet, which must include the following:

• Aircraft Type
• Year of manufacture
• Aircraft registration number and serial number
• Latest airframe hours
• Engine hours since major overhaul
• List of additional avionics
• Damage history
• For brand new aircraft we merely require a copy of the purchase agreement between the client and the supplier.
• Copy of the pro-forma invoice
• If the aircraft will be used to generate income, please provide a copy of the operating contract or utilisation agreement.

Prior to payout:

• Copy of Certificate of Registration
• Copy of Certificate of Airworthiness
• Copy of latest Certificate of Release to Service
• Copy of aircraft Radio Licence
• Letter confirming who will conduct the maintenance on the aircraft with the relevant AMO number stated on this letter.
• Certificate of insurance which must include the following:
  • Standard Bank to be noted as First loss payee
  • Standard Bank to be noted as Additional Insured
  • Breach of Warranty AVN28B/AVN67 B in favour of Standard Bank.
  • Insurance to include LSW555C/D
  • All geographical areas of operation and uses of aircraft must be covered.
• If Second hand, copy of airframe and engine log books first and last page to confirm the hours on the aircraft specification sheet originally provided as well as the serial numbers.
• Invoice (made out to the client NOT Standard Bank)

Alternative finance also available through Aircraft Finance Corporation.

Check out our new and second hand aircraft for sale on our website here.  We will help you through the finance process.

Durban Skyye at Aloe Wildlife Estate Fly-In

I just love Durban in Winter with temperatures rising to over 25c. This morning we woke up to a beautiful sunrise and not a cloud in the sky and we were off to the new Aloe Wildlife Estate for their first official fly-in. Durban Skyye's ZDL was the first aircraft to land and we were soon joined by 12 more. Debbie and Hennie, developer of the estate and future aeropark,  saw to it that we had fabulous cakes and snacks followed by a hamburger breakfast whilst her photographic club also had a field day with the aircraft taking off and landing.. expect some snappy pics to follow.

Durban in all it's glory beneath our wings

On the ground at Virginia just before departure for the fly-in

Durban City and the Harbour

On the ground at the new Aloe Wildlife Estate after a text-book landing on the good, grassed runway which is super-dry with the lack of winter rain

The aircraft lined up after landing here

One of the brighter aircraft

We met Karyn who flies this "Chipmunk" Aircraft out of Pietermaritzburg

Tail-end view of the Chipmunk taildragger aircraft

Eyes to the sky for the group of enthusiastic photographers who had a field day with the aircraft taking off and landing

On the way home with full tummies after a scrumptious breakfast

The route home takes one via Cooper's Lighthouse on the Bluff, then to the Harbour Entrance and further north along the coast to Virginia Airport

The photographic club had their funny hats and Christmas in July event at the Airfield, so Llewellyn posed with these borrowed accessories

Pilots require full colour vision

One of the requirements for a pilot's licence is that you can distinguish colours.. this is important because the left or port side of an aircraft, similar to ships, carries a red light and the right or starboard side of the aircraft a green light. 

This helps tell whether an aircraft is flying towards you or moving further away or is passing from right to left or left to right.. more important at night when your other visual references are impaired.

Click on this link to see if you pass the colour test.

Explorer Taildragger

We have an LSA taildragger for the Flight School. ZU-MSC, an Explorer with a Rotax 912 ULS engine arrived at Virginia this week with ATF for our flight school.

Our new Instructor Ian Waghorn is tail-dragger rated and has considerable time on them. He will be doing his conversion to the Explorer and the Flight School will be offering this neat tail-dragger for ratings, conversions and hire-and-fly.

So if you're keen on getting your rudder skills improved, come and get your rating with us.

The Flight School's new taildragger ZU-MSC

Nearly New Sling LSA for Sale R740 000

HOT DEAL - SALE PENDING

This nearly new Sling LSA is for sale for only R740 000 with only 120 hours on the hobbs.

The aircraft is based at Volksrust although it has been corrosion treated for a coastal home base. It was partially home built and finished by The Airplane Factory, Manufacturers of the Sling Aircaft and features an MGL Efis (see bottom photo) and auto-pilot (needing a glitch fixed with that); trim includes leather seats and dashboard and is for sale through Durban Skyye. Contact Dave on 083-7033329 for more details. A flight to view the plane can be arranged for serious buyers.

Busy weekend

After the students for the weekend, the best time to fly is the calm of evening as the sun was setting and Brad and I did some more time in the flight school Sling ZDL as I was gaining experience with some of the more difficult manouevres flying from the right seat, normally reserved for passengers, but the seat you fly from when instructing.

Weekend fun in the Skyye

Having some weekend fun in the skyye..

Edwin about to have some microlight fun in our Flight School plane

Instructor Brad with Craig, learning that it is cheaper do do some flight time in our Sling than the heavier planes on the other school registers

Brad gets going in FYA

Our Instructor Johnny gets a briefing on the Sling

Instructor's Rating

A whirlwind day today with a sudden ad hoc inspection of the Flight School by Raasa, the administrative body delegated by the Civil Aviation Authority that looks after Part 62 aviation training organisations. That all went well, and was a great opportunity to share with Rassa Inspector Pierre Laubser some of our experiences with the flight school to date.

The Durban skyline was clear after the cold front and rain which washed away the smog

 The Raasa inspection was followed by my third Instructor's "patter" training flight, raking up 3,5 hours towards the 15 needed for the licence as well as exams.

The sun was setting over Durban as Durban Skyye Chief Instructor Brad and I returned to Virginia

Feeling slightly strange sitting in the left seat but flying the plane as Brad gives me instructor "patter" training

ZDL cockpit by day

My day flight was followed by a bite to eat then a short night flight from Virginia to King Shaka International where we did a touch and go, this time with me back in the left seat

Llewellyn and I with our night lights on

The Umhlanga beachfront, pier and lighthouse by night

Approaching King Shaka runway 24 by night

GPS making inroads

Whilst navigation by map remains a part of every pilot's training, GPS based aircraft navigation and surveillance systems are becoming the norm.

Our flight school's Sling aircraft are fitted with Cape Town manufactured  MGL avionics "glass cockpit" GPS based EFIS systems which give you map and navigation data combined with full engine statistics and information management capability. The auto-pilot in ZDL is especially useful for longer flights and will take us across the Mozambique Channel to Madagascar next year.

The MGL EFIS and GPS in our aircraft

NewGen

The next generation of GPS-based aircraft technology is the "NewGen" ADS-B transponders. (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast). This is surveillance technology to replace radar tracking of aircraft and is becoming mandatory in certain airspaces in the United States as well as Australia. Our aircraft in Durban operating in the King Shaka airspace are already required to be fitted with Mode S transponders. These send out signals which can be tracked by the conventional radar systems used in our controlled airspace by the air traffic controllers. The ADS-B equipment is a modified Mode S transponder in which each aircraft uses GPS to find it's own position, then broadcasts this position to other aircaft as well as air traffic controllers. Discussion in the States is around making this new equipment mandatory for General Aviation Aircraft and in the interim in a spreading number of controlled airspaces.

The facility for aircraft to broadcast their position and be tracked by other aircraft is intended to greatly enhance safety in the sky and in the States, where air traffic is reaching capacity loads, will enable aircraft to be routed closer together using the more reliable and accurate ADS tracking system.

Predictions are that by 2020, most aircraft will be fitted with this equipment.