FFA in process of getting aircraft back in the air
"We expect to have some of our aircraft operational by the end of this week."
MBOMBELA – FFA Aviation (FFA) is cooperating with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to address the matters that led to the temporary suspension of the organisation’s Air Operating Certificates (AOC), and the consequent grounding of some of its aircraft, including those of Working on Fire (WoF), last week.
The FFA submitted its application for the reissuing of the AOC yesterday, in compliance with the CAA’s additional quality-assurance requirements. “We expect to have some of our aircraft operational by the end of this week,” says Ms Naranda Leeuwner, spokesman for the FFA. She adds that the process of re-obtaining certificates of airworthiness for its helicopters has started, which will confirm that all helicopters have complied with international aviation standards.
Our ground-based firefighting teams are, however, not affected by this suspension and are fully operational. We are also mobilising all other available firefighting resources to ensure that our clients have prompt access to combat any ignitions. This means that we can still fight fires,” Leeuwner concludes.
The suspension followed a recent spate of incidents and accidents involving aircraft operated by FFA, therefore the CAA has intensified its oversight and obligations to determine whether aviation safety was in any way compromised by this operator and maintenance organisation.
“The CAA has offered us its help and assistance in order to get our planes fully operational again,” Leeuwner says.
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