Finding freedom in flying

“I miss flying everyday, even after all these years,” Hentie Scheepers said.

Mr Scheepers’s 35 year career as a pilot began not as an adult, but as a child.

“As a child, I was always interested in flying. I think it was just in me.”

Fascinated with the wide open space of the skies, the art of flying and the mechanics of planes, Mr Scheepers began his career in 1948 after training in Pretoria.

“My instructor was a pilot in World Ward II and the Korean War,” he said proudly.

Trained by a seasoned veteran, Mr Scheepers’s career as a pilot began in 1948 and ended in 1983.

During his career, he flew on both a private and commercial level.

“I flew chartered flights for many years and even had my own chartered flight business, but one of my biggest achievements was flying commercial flights as it required more responsibility.”

His career took him across South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique.

Reflecting on the past, three incidents were engraved in his memory.

Firstly, Mr Scheepers once crash landed in Johannesburg in the 1970s with the then Newcastle mayor. “It was a chartered flight and the landing wheels would not come out, so I landed up doing a belly landing,” he smiled.

He also remembers how he had once picked up a hitch-hiker during a flight. “It was when I was flying in Namibia and I was alone and it got a bit boring, so I flew low to admire the wildlife. I then noticed a hitch-hiker so I landed in the road and offered him a lift,” he laughed, remembering how shocked the man had looked at the sudden landing.

Mr Scheepers was the first person to land at Newcastle Airport in the 1977. “Before then, planes landed on a strip of grass where Vultintaba is now,” he told.

Since his first flight, Mr Scheepers had noticed many changes in the flying world. “The technology has improved drastically and we now live in the jet age,” he said.

While he has not been flying for a number years, he kept up to date with modern air technology through books.

“I stopped flying as I felt the older one got, despite the experience you acquired, you tended to start making mistakes.”

Missing flying daily, Mr Scheepers, who is now 88 years old, said he would definitely encourage others to pursue a career in flying.

“I remember if I had a bad day and went flying, it felt like I was freed from all my troubles. I felt so free,” he concluded.