Grounded and furious: Aviation industry unites against SACAA’s engine rule

Key topics

• SACAA rule renders hundreds of aircraft grounded, risking aviation collapse

• Legal action looms as support pours in from pilots, clubs and insurers

• Industry warns of job losses, economic fallout, and firefighting risks

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Issued by the AIC 18. 19 Task Team under the collective auspices of the Commercial Aviation Association of South Africa (CAASA), the Aeroclub of South Africa, the Aviation Watch Action Committee, the Aviation Action Group and Concerned Aircraft Owners, Pilots, Engineers and Operators

The AIC 18.19 Task Team under auspices of four aviation representative organisations and a group of concerned aircraft owners and specialists,reports that members of the industry have been showing strong support and solidarity following a media statement about the constructive grounding of scores of SouthAfrican fixed-wing aeroplanes and helicopters fitted with Textron-Lycoming and Teledyne Continental engines and possibly any engine not overhauled during the past 12 years.

Funds and pledges of support have been streaming in from near and far. An immense amount of the funding target to resort to legal action if all efforts fail to resolve the situation has been received. The special Task Team envisages vehement opposition on the part of the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) who rescinded the previous General Notice that has been working with utmost safety and efficiently for the past two decades. The new Civil Aviation Regulation and Technical Standard, unless amended, is rendering scores of aircraft virtually worthless overnight. The cascading effects are jeopardizing thousands of jobs while irreparably harming the industry and sectors of the economy relying on general and light commercial aviation.

A reactive public statement by the SACAA makes it clear that the time for talk is over. Although the Task Team will endeavour to enter into talks with the Hon. Minister of Transport, Mrs. Barbara Creecy, it would appear that the SACAA has dug its heels in. The Authority is ironically using the same but unsubstantiated argument of maintaining safety standards that the rescinded AIC 18.19 has been successfully achieving, mitigating the detrimental effects of inactivity and passive storage, as the original recommendation by the manufacturers clearly intended.

Major sales, maintenance and engine overhauling companies, including certain insurance companies and underwriters have also come out in support of the Task Team initiative. The 150 contributors to the ‘warchest’ also include industry representative organisations, flying clubs and fixed-wing aeroplane and helicopter owners and operators. All indications are that failing relief from the Minister, urgent legal applications may follow, while the current initiative is gaining traction, direction and momentum. Should the need arise to escalate the action, more funds will have to be recruited.

The Task Team is emboldened by the media coverage and public awareness the collective effort has generated so far. Hopes are that this initiative will garner political support and raise the issue threatening thousands of jobs at the highest levels. With over 450 fixed-wing aircraft that attended Nampo 2025 potentially affected and the ensuing threat to the agricultural sector and forestry due to firefighting organisations being affected, hopes are high that the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. John Steenhuisen, will sit up and take notice. Meanwhile, feedback and encouragement are being received from various sources, including South Africans residing in the USA and other aviation countries.