Civil Aviation Authority to embark on skills-training drive

AVIATION safety body, the South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), said yesterday that it would spend about R20m over the next two years on improving the skills of its safety inspectors and acquiring new data-capturing equipment.

The CAA’s newly appointed CE, Zakes Myeza, said the planned skills-training programme would improve the company’s efficiency and effectiveness in carrying out its aviation safety regulatory activities.

“We want to raise the bar on safety and security in the aviation industry,” said Myeza.

“Internally, we will not tolerate incompetence of staff, and externally we will not tolerate noncompliance (by aircraft owners).”

He said the rise in the number of registered aircraft in SA had prompted the CAA to recruit more staff, and in some cases it would bring back retired inspectors to fill the gap. SA currently has 9314 registered aircraft and 13891 active pilots.

The CAA said there were 152 civil aircraft accidents last year, in which 33 people died.

The previous year saw 149 accidents and 34 related deaths.

All accidents involved light aircraft used mostly for recreational or private purposes.

The causes of the accidents included engine failures, poor weather conditions, lack of airworthiness and negligence by pilots and flight crew.

SA was recently commended by United Nation’s civil aviation safety agency the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the global airlines lobby group the International Air Transport Association (Iata) for having a relatively good safety record among African countries.

Last week Iata lambasted the governments of Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Swaziland and Equatorial Guinea for not taking safety seriously.

Business Day