Residents watch monthly pilot training for a good cause

Pretoria residents gathered at the Swartkop Airforce Base in Centurion on Saturday to enjoy the monthly training day for pilots.

They, among other things, watched various old aircraft on display and others flying as pilots were practising.

“The Airforce hosts the national training day monthly for pilots to gain more experience and flying hours,” one of the event’s organisers, Deon Coetzee, told Rekord, citing that as organisers of the event they invited community members to attend.

The residents in attendance also enjoyed watching the old aircraft kept at the Airforce base. The old aircraft on display included Transall C160, C130, CASA 235, Boing 707 and Aérospatiale Alouette III. Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma and Harvard aircraft, among others, took to the sky as pilots showed off their abilities.

According to Coetzee, who is also a member of Swartkop Friends of the South African Airforce Museum, the monthly training day for pilots served as a platform to generate the money needed for covering the maintenance and preservation costs of old aircraft on display such as the Buccaneer Cockpit.

“We are currently running a Buccaneer restoration project. The Buccaneer Cockpit aircraft were used during the war in Angola in the 1980s,” he said, adding that out of 16 of these aircraft that were in the country only five still existed as 11 others had crashed.
One of the residents, Anrico Blignaut, said he enjoyed attending the event.

“Coming here with my son is a lovely experience and I am happy that my son is also happy,” Blignaut said.

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