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"All the get-out-of-trouble tricks they dont teach you at flying
school but which you are glad to have up your sleeve in a harsh and
unpredictable environment."
Turlough Martin, UK
Get the full story
here
(Word Document). |
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Short field, soft field and unimproved surface
take off and landings, low flying, slow flying and mountain flying,
engine diagnostics and repair, this course covers just about
everything you need to know to fly and survive in the bush. The training is run by CC Pocock from
Bushair, which is based at the Barberton Valley airstrip. The strip lies in
the South African lowveld, approx. 150nm east of Johannesburg,
nestled in the |
middle of the bush with
Swaziland, Mozambique and the Kruger National Park on the doorstep. The area
also provides all the necessary
scenarios, mountains and challenging strips within a 15nm radius, and its
natural beauty is complemented
by an easy-going and friendly people
who make it their home. |
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Over a period of two to three days CC will teach participants what it
takes to be a bushpilot, and no stone is left unturned in passing on the
knowledge learned from his own hard-won experience and misadventures.
After ground school the practical part of the course starts with practise
at and around the Barberton airstrip. Once you've mastered the various techniques you will be
introduced to some very real scenarios and some very challenging bush
and mountain strips.
During this practice you will be piloting the aircraft, with CC next
to you only as a safety pilot (and to demonstrate that the things which
he wants you to do are actually possible!) By the time you have completed the
course you will be able to land and take off from 300m strips in a C172
or C182!
The ground school part of the course covers things
like:
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Basic engine, electrical & avionics
diagnostics &
repairs (cowlings
are removed to get a closer look at how it all works together) |
| Airframe and propeller repairs and maintenance |
| Tyre, landing gear and oleo repairs and maintenance |
| Air filter and oil filter cleaning and replacement |
| Low level navigation and radio procedures |
| Fuel, re-fuelling, AVGAS / MOGAS, testing for water and
alcohol |
| Windshield care and cleaning |
| Survival kit and basic tools and equipment on board a
bushplane |
• Basic air law, aviation charts, navigation, radio procedures and
weather in the Southern African region. |
| Hot and high ops. Density altitude |
• Survival in the bush, ground navigation,
signalling and
communication |
The practical flying part of the course covers
things like:
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Short field take off and landing |
| Soft field take off and landing |
| Obstacle clearance take off and landing |
| Unimproved surface and road take off and
landing |
| Emergency and precautionary landings |
| Hot and high ops. Density altitude |
| Low level flying and slow flying |
| Mountain flying |
| Emergency maneuvers and flying without
primary controls |
| IMC & Night emergencies |
| Night bush flying, take offs and landings |
Included in the course is a low level safari flight
around the Kruger
Park and the Blyde River Canyon. |
Learn the techniques to be a confident and safe Bush Pilot in Africa.
A certificate is issued after completion of the course.
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"A proper bush character, it seemed to us London types that it was CC
who put the wild in wild frontier, and he was the ideal teacher for
flying in this hot and high environment. After a 5am wake-up call he
wasted no time in showing us what the aircraft could really do and how
to do it safely - for example, how to retreat from a valley blocked by
cloud. (I had no idea a Cessna could reverse direction in a radius of 50
metres - and no wing-overs!) All the get-out-of-trouble tricks they
dont teach you at flying school but which you are glad to have up your
sleeve in a harsh and unpredictable environment. CC swears by the old
Cessnas, whose manual flaps, like the Pipers, can be extended in an
emergency in a fraction of the time it takes the new-fangled electrical
ones just the thing for seat of your pants flying."
"...short-field landings were high on
the agenda. I still find it hard to believe that you can land a 182 on a
150 metre strip, although I have now done it myself several times.
Though thankfully, on the trip proper we rarely encountered one of much
less than 1000 well, we had to take off again, of course. Emergency
maintenance and survival tips would be equally important if we were unfortunate
enough to come down in the bush and we both listened intently to everything CC
had to teach us from his own hard-won experience and misadventures."
Turlough Martin, UK
Get the full story
here
(Word Document).
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