The AOOA is among a small number of Zambia’s oldest Associations, and has been working actively on behalf of aviation and the aviation community for over 50 years, thanks to successive teams of volunteers, members and enthusiasts, not least the individuals who have stepped up to the plate in particular over the past 5 years of economic depression, covid, growing climate change impacts, and global insecurity.
During these most recent years we have achieved significant success in re-invigorating the Association and putting the AOOA back on the map with our aviation partners, regulating authorities and the public at large. There are of course some naysayers, that’s just human nature, and tend to come from those who do the least.
So, as we move towards our next AGM scheduled for June 2023 (final date, time and venue to be advised), we appeal to our members and would-be members to continue supporting us if nothing else other than by joining the Association https://www.aooa-zambia.org/membership and giving us the mandate to continue our work.
We did review our 2022 past year in our 2023 Q1 Newsletter, but there has been a range of activities we have been engaged in since then, the highlights of which we summarise in the following paragraphs. These include regularly engaging with partners and government authorities, attending industry meetings, and hosting aviation events, activities that are the bread and butter of our industry and the aviation sector as a whole.
Membership
If you are already a paid-up member, thank you! If you were a member last year but haven’t yet signed up again, do please get in touch with our Membership Representative Belinda on admin@aooa-zambia.org / +260 963483869 for more details and to arrange payment.
AOOA membership is available on a variety of levels and is very affordable! You can also find more information on our website here. Thank you for your support and we look forward to continued blue-skies flying for the year ahead!
Aviation Fuels’ Supply, Delivery, Service Quality and Price
The AOOA and a number of our members continue to engage in discussions with Puma, Total, the ERB and Government authorities regarding significant concerns of both JET A1 and AVGAS aviation fuels’ supply, delivery, service quality and pricing. This is being done in collaboration with the TCZ, of which we are now a member, and beginning to bear fruit in terms of some improvements.
Delta Farm Fly-In and Spot-landing Competition
On 6th May, 2023, the AOOA held a fantastic Fly-In and Spot-landing Competition event at Delta Farm (FLDF) in Mazabuka. A total of 16 pilots took part in a wide variety of aircraft. The competition was fierce but David Green took first place winning the Taffy Hughes Memorial Trophy for Airmanship. Congratulations David! Rassie DuToit took a very close second and Pete Young, third.
The AOOA committee would like to warmly thank Nick Patterson and Jack Fairley at Delta Farms for making us so welcome and providing excellent food and refreshments as well as top-notch facilities. Thank you also to Lindsay Campbell and Andrew Woodley for organising the event and to the members of GATCOZ who made a huge effort to get to Mazabuka to participate in the event.
It was a wonderful opportunity to exchange flying experience and talk aviation.
We look forward to the next one!
Pilot/ATC Interaction Day
On the 10th of May the AOOA held our annual ATC/Pilot Interaction day at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport. Pilots arrived at the domestic terminal at 11am sharp to a warm reception from members of GATCOZ. We had an excellent educational tour of the Air Traffic Control departments including Area Control, Approach and the Tower. Pilots were able to ask ATC personnel questions and see first-hand how air-traffic in Zambia is managed and controlled.
Following the most informative tour we re-assembled at the Niner Juliet Hangars for an excellent lunch of fresh Fringilla wors rolls. Brief speeches were delivered from the Vice President of the AOOA Richard Jeffery and Senior Air Traffic Controller Donald Mulenga who both reiterated the critical need for constant cooperation and communication between our two organisations to ensure safer skies for all.
Once lunch was digested, many ATC personnel were given the chance to experience radio communications from the pilot perspective when AOOA members took them up for a circuit or two around KKIA. Our thanks to ZACL for supporting the event by waiving the passenger tax fees for these flights.
It was a great day of interaction that will help make the aviation industry in Zambia safer for all. Of course, these events require a large amount of organisation and we are grateful to Lindsay Campbell and Andrew Woodley for the time they invested in making sure all the logistics worked. A very warm vote of thanks also to Rob Stacey and his team at Niner Juliet Logistics for pulling out all the stops to host us at their hangar.
Finally, thank you to all the pilots who took part and of course to GATCOZ for their participation in this excellent event.
AOOA Aviation Safety Forum
The AOOA provides a number of aviation-related membership “services”, most recently an informal Aviation Safety Forum for highlighting critical aviation safety matters for discussion and comment among our members and the wider aviation community. These may be accessed through our website and related media platforms.
Not least among these are Government’s plans for significant investments in aviation infrastructure for our International, Provincial and District Airports and Aerodromes right down to the rural airfields and airstrips throughout the country. This is good news, and we hope that both the key parastatal and private sector players and perhaps the donor community too will collaborate on this initiative.
For example, some of Zambia’s rural or “bush” airstrips are our busiest commercial (public) aerodromes and yet remain some of the roughest, most poorly developed, and hazardous airstrips in the country, exposing our domestic and international tourist visitors to unnecessary risks and discomfort. Our Aviation Safety Forum has therefore taken a special interest in this subject as follows:
Category C Airfield/Airstrip Standards & Specifications
The AOOA has held a series of meetings with the CAA and various Airfield/Airstrip owners/operators (including CLZ and some TCA holders for Jeki in the LZNP, and the African Parks Network for Matamanene and Kalabo in Liuwa Plains, Lufupa, Busanga Plains, Chunga and Ngoma in KNP, and Chimbwi and Inja in the Bangweulu swamps). Thanks to all those involved who have assisted, namely Nathan Kaluba (CAA), Troy Page, Ian Stephenson, James Milanzi, Deon, Craig Riley and Phil. We have established a joint ad hoc AOOA/ZCAA caucus regarding Category C airfield operations, standards and specifications https://www.aooa-zambia.org/latest-news/aooa-guidelines-on-category-c-airfields-in-zambia
AOOA Secretariat
We have recently moved the AOOA office, and streamlined the Secretariat to reduce costs and improve accessibility. Our admin assistant Lutangu Wasilota has completed his attachment with the AOOA and has moved on to find permanent employment in the aviation sector, but meanwhile continues to assist us on an ad hoc basis.
We thank Lutangu for his enthusiastic efforts to promote aviation and the AOOA during his time with us and we wish him well for the future in his new appointment. We trust that this experience with the AOOA will serve him well as he pursues his career interests in aviation.
Our Secretariat (consisting of the President and VP, Lindsay, Gareth and Rob) remains accessible thanks to interim platform hosting arrangements provided by members of the Secretariat while we look for a more permanent arrangement for AOOA office premises.
People
Veronica Nkunde who is a fairly recent CPL addition to our flying community, and who has been an active member of our Committee (especially in relation of aviation youth and gender development and mentorship programme), is moving overseas to pursue a promising aviation career. Veronica also assisted us by representing the AOOA on the ZACL AvSec Security Committee. We are of course sorry to lose Veronica to the wider world, but we wish her every success for the future!
A warm AOOA welcome to Neddy Banda, an AvSec Security advisor and consultant based with Corporate Air at KKIA, who has volunteered to replace Veronica as our representative on the ZACL AvSec Security Committee.
KKIA Development ops
The new KKIA International Terminal is now more or less complete and the air-bridges and aircraft tugs are functioning. In the meantime, renovations of the original terminal building are proceeding and we’re looking forward to our “new” Domestic Terminal being completed! With International Airlines now more or less being handled by the new Terminal, there is more space for Domestic and General Aviation operations on the western apron which also has a new parking bay system with additional capacity. Well done ZACL.
ZCAA News
There have been some organizational changes in the CAA with the recent retirement of its Director- General Mr Gabriel Lesa, after many years of loyal service to the aviation sector. Mr Lesa joined the CAA and navigated the industry through years of exciting but at times challenging developments, such as firmly establishing the CAA’s role in place of the original Government Department of Civil Aviation, and implementing ICAO recommendations for modernizing regulation and management of the aviation sector, all against a backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and its associated public health and socio-economic impacts. Well done sir, and we wish you every success in your future appointment.
Other key AOOA activities over the past 18 months
We successfully negotiated with ZAF the reinstatement of monthly block clearances as per historic practice (suspended in early 2021).
We facilitated the reduction of overtime fees for flight operations outside airport published opening hours.
We successfully negotiated implementation of a reduction in parking fees for Aircraft weighing 0 - 5 tons (5000 kgs).
We initiated the process with ZCAA for the approval of non-type certified aircraft (E.g. Sling 2) for ab initio pilot training in Zambia.
We initiated the process with ZCAA for approving Declared Training Organisations.
We continue to represent the aviation community on the ZACL Airport Facilitation Committee and the ZACL Stakeholders’ Forum of which we are a member, and other ZACL platforms.
We continue to represent the aviation community on the ZCAA Search and Rescue Committee as a member.
We continue to represent the aviation community at Aviation Sector Support Program II (ASSP II) meetings organised by the Ministry of Transportation.
We are working on establishing a joint AOOA/ZCAA policy resolution consultative panel to address issues arising from our AOOA/ZCAA 2022 working agenda (pending an update with ZCAA’s new organizational structure).
AOOA is now a full member of the Tourism Council of Zambia.
The Children’s Flight - Kumbululuka kwa bafana
Another (Zambia’s second) Children’s Flight - Kumbululuka kwa bafana is to be held at KKIA on 10th June, 2023, courtesy of ZAF, the ZCAA and ZACL, and also once again thanks to the tireless efforts and vision of Capt. Felix Gosher.
The AOOA is your Aviation Platform in Zambia
We continue to progress through 2023, and there is no doubt that aviation and Zambia’s overall economic activity is stirring into action. But as we approach the half-way point of 2023, please continue to support us as we look forward to welcoming more and more of you as renewing or new members, joining us in promoting a bright future for Zambia’s aviation sector and the Nation as a whole.
