Heinz De Boer, Current LSA Student Pilot:
“Aviation is a drug. My addiction began at my first Virginia Airshow more than 25 years ago. In an age where SAAF Mirages still broke sound barriers over the sea and touch and go landings on a 900 metre runway were the norm.
The goosebumps, sheer awe and smell of burnt Jet A1 continued to course through my veins until I found myself in a Cessna 150 years later. The exhilaration of scooting around the GFA solo knowing your fate was in your hands is a feeling one never forgets.
Fast forward two decades. Aviation had taken a back seat as kids were raised and work pressures mounted – but never a day passed that I would not look to the sky. The smell of Jet A1 sill gave me goosebumps and every now and again the old flying books would get dragged out.
But things had changed. Virginia was now a highly commercialised business of flight schools – many who churning out Comm pilots rapidly. The relationships and comradery had faded – and new faces had replaced the old. As a low hour guy, the sense of belonging had faded.
The leap back into the cockpit was not an easy one to make. The online debates on a PPL vs NPL raged; while transitioning away from a controlled airspace airport to a grass strip was challenging in all the right ways. Ballito Microlight Academy is the kind of place where you belong. Period. The relaxed atmosphere and genuine friendships you form with students and Chief Instructor Anthony are the true substance of aviation.
Apart from the light sport aircraft industry expanding rapidly worldwide – they are just darned fun to fly! It’s stick and rudder stuff. The core fundamentals of flight are accentuated in LSA yet the aircraft remain incredibly forgiving.
But the magic is in the instruction. Anthony has a way with people. Relaxed in his approach, he manages to let the student safely learn without the overbearing and often aggressive instruction at the more rigid schools. Ballito is the kind of place where you learnt your lesson; but it was done so subtly it was not a lesson – but rather a life experience.
If watching whales and dolphin frolicking along the coast or being on finals with stage two flaps and the runway rushing up at you sounds interesting – then come fly! Or don’t. Everyone has the right to be boring. See you in the sky!”