The Money Show’s Bruce Whitfield gets the details from Kirby Gordon, Chief Marketing Officer at FlySafair.
Aviation safety in South Africa has been in the spotlight following a number of recent incidents related to aircraft maintenance.
On Thursday, FlySafair grounded one of its commercial aircraft to investigate a technical error following two flight diversions (on 30 March and 5 April).
The flights from East London for Cape Town were diverted to Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport in Gqeberha.
However the cause ‘was barely an issue’ Chief Marketing Officer Kirby Gordon told The Money Show.
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FlySafair says that the pilot was alerted during both flights to an indication error from a small component on the wing.
I’m sure many are aware that that aircraft components, and particularly those that actually are moveable components, are fitted with a number of sensors… that give an indication of being within the bounds of normal usage…
Kirby Gordon, Chief Marketing Officer – FlySafair
After the first diversion the crew reset the sensors and after finding everything to be normal, refuelled and took off again says Gordon.
The issue came when, 24 flights later… the problem re-occurred… We decided to deploy a standby aircraft to go and pick up that particular flight. We brought the aircraft to Johannesburg for a more thorough investigation in our hangars… They replaced the faulty component.
Kirby Gordon, Chief Marketing Officer – FlySafair
Working in conjunction with the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA), who supported that decision, the maintenance team at…