MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Mossel Bay, here we come!
This is the triumphant cry of a 20-year-old Hartenbosser, who will be piloting a "homemade" plane from Lanseria Airport outside Johannesburg to the Mossel Bay airstrip.
He is landing in Mossel Bay on Wednesday, 12 June.
In 2017, the same year he matriculated, Chandré Swanepoel, a former Point High School learner, developed an "extreme sensitivity to sunlight which would have stopped me from achieving my dream of becoming a pilot".
Sun allergy
Chandré says: "Doctors have no treatment for sun allergy. I want to show people that no setback should stop you from achieving your goal."
He trained with Starlite Aviation, based at the Mossel Bay airstrip in Aalwyndal and attained his private pilot's licence this year. He is busy training for his commercial licence.
Chandré, who lives with his parents in Hartenbos, has been working in Lanseria for a month to finance his training.
As part of the "U-Dream" project a group of 20 inexperienced teenagers from diverse backgrounds across South Africa have built a Sling 4 aircraft at Tedderfield in Johannesburg in a highly controlled environment, within two weeks, under the guidance and supervision of The Airplane Factory, U-Dream mentors and five team leaders from Denel Aviation.
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The U-Dream project was begun from teen pilot, author and motivational speaker Megan Werner's yearning to make a positive contribution to the world.
Megan founded U-Dream Global to inspire her peers to follow their dreams, by proving that the seemingly impossible could be achieved, with the right team and focused actions.
The U-Dream team is set to fly the four-seater light aircraft from Cape Town on 15 June to Cairo and back, visiting nine countries and "impacting thousands of lives during the programme", a U-Dream statement noted.
Milk tart
Chandré explains: "We are stopping in Mossel Bay because it is my hometown and we as the U-Dream group have a tradition that when we are in Mossel Bay we go to De Vlaming Bakery for its world class milk tart.
"De Vlaming is the company which privately sponsored the route I am flying. By landing in Mossel Bay we say thanks for its involvement in this project."
Surprise, surprise: Chandré's parents are the owners of De Vlaming. There are sure to be many milk tarts being shared at the landing strip after Chandré touches down on 12 June.
After Mossel Bay the U-Dream plane will continue to Cape Town and then to Cairo. Six different pilots will fly the various legs of the journey from Cape Town to Cairo - three pilots in the South African airspace and three others in the international airspace. Chandré is one of the pilots who will fly within South Africa.
The co-pilots will be accompanied by a support plane throughout the trip. Experienced, reputable pilots will pilot the support plane and handle weather decisions, flight planning, fuel planning and general risk, and help the younger co-pilots make timely, informed decisions that support safe approaches and landings, according to the U-Dream statement.
Pilot-in-command
Regarding his flight from Lanseria to Mossel Bay, Chandré says: "Three people will be in the craft. I will be the pilot-in-command, then I have a safety pilot with me and one of the builders of the plane.
"There will also be a support aircraft for video surveillance."
Chandré says level-headedly: "If there are problems during the flight, such as engine failure, which are not fixable, an emergency landing is our only option, but if it is not too life threatening I will have to make a diversion to the closest airstrip.
"Starlite aviation takes safety very seriously and drills us in emergency procedures to ensure our and our passengers' safety."
U-Dream Global is a non-profit organisation which depends entirely on monetary donations, materials and technical guidance from corporates and individuals and it is calling for sponsorship for the Cape Town to Cairo trip.
Chandré Swanepoel and Abel Dlamini. Abel will be in the support aircraft which will be accompanying the U-Dream plane. UDG on the plane stands for Uniform Delta Golf, which is the aircraft registration of the plane.
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