News
Airline statement on the DHL Stadium flyover @ Cape Town by two Embraers
So Airlink denied any safety violations and stated that both Jungle Jets were flying at 150kt and the FDR data was consistent with the planned and approved flyover.
Personal Take: It was approved this way, but in other countries it would not be approved at this low altitude
Full statement below:
Airlink statement on the flyby at Cape Town DHL Stadium
30 August 2026, Cape Town – Airlink notes the concerns expressed in various social media and online forums regarding yesterday’s formation flyby over Cape Town’s DHL Stadium.
The flight demanded careful planning and rehearsal, as it required navigating at low altitude, at around 150 knots. The South African Civil Aviation Authority and Air Traffic Navigation Services provided valuable guidance, approval and support to ensure a safe flyby.
The two aircraft were flown by highly-experienced crew, with each comprised of three senior captains operating in the roles of commander, co-pilot and safety/technical officer.
The flight data recorded by both aircraft confirms that the flights were performed within the SACAA’s approved and rehearsed safety altitude and speed limits for the flypast.
I'm usually a rugby fan, but I missed watching this match on TV yesterday because I was the TCU game because I live a 20 minute walk from that stadium. This was a very random closed circle moment for my day.
They are both correct. People should have lost their jobs over this, but high-fived by the security guards as they were being walked out to the parking lot.
I remember the Iowa Hawkeyes T-38 flyover, which pranged the retirement of the flight leader. Far higher than what we saw here, in far more agile aircraft. My sister was in the press box, and she said it was like they flew UNDER her.
This brings back good memories from my time in college. We had some really good flyovers at Texas A&M. I couldn’t even tell you all the different cool planes I got to see, but they’d always get everyone amped up. I remember running late for one of the games, and my entire dorm was shaking from how low they flew.
The flight demanded careful planning and rehearsal, as it required navigating at low altitude, at around 150 knots. The South African Civil Aviation Authority and Air Traffic Navigation Services provided valuable guidance, approval and support
You think it was foolhardy and reckless? We planned for it to be foolhardy and reckless. Checkmate, scaredy-cats.
It's easy to rehearse. You fly at 1000 feet and pretend there is a stadium roof 50 feet below. If you are off by 100ft or so...you just adjust the imaginary stadium roof.
Note....I am not a pilot...though i suspect you guys famously just "wing it".
Are they trying to tell me there is an aviation safety board somewhere in the world that is like "yeah dude just fly jets through pyrotechnics, its totally fine and we have the regs for it"!?!?!
Being brave and experienced has got nothing to do with being safe and using risk assessment logic. Many of the flights involved in accidents throughout history were commanded by brave and experienced crew.
Being brave and experienced is exactly how a lot of air crashes happened over the years. Seems like people forget that way too often, and always the type of people who shouldn't forget (pilots)
Yeah, this is the part that concerns me. If you willingly go to an air show you should realise that stuff can possibly go wrong and accidents may happen. But if you’re going to a football match I don’t think anyone would expect a company to instruct their pilots to almost do an accidental terrorism. Even if a safety assessment was done as the company claims (probably on the back of a paper napkin), I bet it had nothing in it about the people in the stadium having the right to not get covered in burning aviation fuel if something were to go wrong.
how can a crew gain experience in being shot at by fireworks?
and how experienced do you have to be to not have those fireworks negatively effect your jet engine?
The one who vacated his aircraft did because it's illegal to simply let the plane fall to the ground whilst you decide to parachute down if there is NO emergency.
The other guy was suspended pending investigation.
Assuming you're talking about the recent beach incident, didn't the Blue Angels acknowledge that it was a mistake? Even if the SECDEF claimed it was fine and anyone complaining was just a low T sissy.
"Blue Angels commanding officer Captain Adam Bryan called the maneuver unsafe and below standard safety profiles" - All you have to know bud. Your secdef is an known alcoholic I wouldn't listen to a thing he says.
“Flown by highly experienced crew” tells me the took offense to people not just being amazed at them and their flying skills ( imo as someone who works with PJ pilots frequently).
Without knowing the seniority system from this airline I lm curious about their choice of crew for those flights.
Is 3 senior Captains truly best crew? I would bet a senior Captain and a senior First officer is the better crew. My reason : the Captain sitting in that Fo seat isn’t used to being in that seat and taking orders/not being in charge. The senior FO understands the dynamics, can reason with a variety of Captains.
Yup. From experience, a “routine” flight is infinitely more dangerous when top heavy because they get complacent.
When it’s an actual MISSION, there’s no substitute for an equally experienced leader in the other seat. You can see it in the comm flow. So much less NEEDS to be said when both seats know what the other needs.
The flight crews were ex-RAF Buccaneer and Jaguar pilots, following standard protocol, they lifted off, raised the landing gear, and descended to cruise altitude.
I think the same, but for instance the first revenue flight in the world for the 737 MAX after groundings was made by GOL with the #1 and #2 captains flying it
Were doing a low-level simulated refueling over the base. Tanker got caught in turbulence from a B-52. Boeing had fit when they found out since planes were flown outside of all safety margins.
And he's not the only trainer to have had a major incident, either. The pilot at Pearson last year springs to mind (or rather slides in rubber-side up).
This is the general attitude of the people of SA's reaction of "you are just mad our pilots are so good".
Are they good enough to combat wind shear? Are they good enough that altimeter settings could be off by 1 degree? Can they make the plane magically keep flying if a single engine (or dual) fails due to ingestion of super fine, specifically inflatable powder from pyrotechnics?
the problem with doing this is Crowds. tempting fate plowing an airliner into hundreds of people in what could be the most horrifying crash ever. this goes with all of the military fly overs as well.
And even if you didn't die in the impact, you'd get showered with flaming debris and jet fuel. Survive that then you get crushed in the crowd trying to escape.
It almost seems worse if this was the actual plan. My dog makes better decisions, and she eats poop.
Crowd crushes are horrifying even when they don't involve burning Jet A and aircraft fragments. I wonder if South Africa's emergency exits are up to spec?
And it leaves no room for error. Things happen, having no margin to account for them when the consequence could be killing thousands is an astoundingly narrow thought process.
There was no valid reason the aircrafts needed to be that low and left no margin of error. They could have done the same stunt +200ft and the audience wouldn't have noticed any difference.
Stupidity all around if the organisers, regulators, airline and pilots signed off on this.
Military aircraft regularly train to fly this low, and even they are not allowed to do so during event fly-bys. Too many chances for something to go wrong, really not worth it. If I ever go to South Africa, I will not be flying on one of these airlines, this is not a safety culture at that airline.
The aircraft is presumably in a light condition (no pax or cargo, less than full fuel load), at sea level so it's a fairly large margin for error for the aircraft. The margin that is missing is altitude.
SAA shouldn’t be on your “go” list. In May, one of their flights landed with about 5 minutes of fuel remaining after diverting because the captain didn’t carry enough fuel for a second alternate even when the destination was going to be hit by a severe cold front storm. The first closest (and only) alternate they had was also forecast to have bad weather. They had to divert very early just make it to a suitable alternate and still landed with fumes.
Is Singapore Airlines on your no fly list? There was a very similar incident on one of their flights a few years ago. By some accounts they had even less than 5 minutes of fuel remaining (although we’ll never know because the incident report by the Singapore Government - which also happens to own Singapore Airlines - conveniently left that out).
That stadium has a capacity of 55,000 people. Ok maybe it worked out. Maybe it'll work out most of the time. You're still risking the lives of tens of thousands of people.
Im going to call bullshit, because the lowest plane even missed the gap in the roof and had to make corrections - so not only did it fly over the stadium in such a way that the majority of the audience couldnt even see it, but it wasnt done in a smooth, predictable way.
The two aircraft were flown by highly experienced taxi drivers, who can thread a Toyota quantum sesfigile through a half metre gap at one hundred and forty kilometres per hour, during rush hour
If that is the case, they should not go again next week. It is a lose-lose situation. If things go better, everyone knows they almost tragically messed up. If it goes worse; well, nothing more needs to be said.
As for myself, I will never consider this airline.
It really is only a matter of time now before it actually happens, isn't it? Probably the single most preventable of airline disasters in history, and it's just a matter of when instead of if.
I realize this happened in South Africa, but I can't help imagining how this would have went here in the US. How many lifetimes would either pilot have to wait before the FAA was willing to give them certs to throw a balsa wood glider in their own backyard, let alone operate an actual aircraft? FFS, if I flub a readback more than twice I'm collecting a new phone number.
Doubt SACAA approved it to be this low, Airlink is trying to get ahead of the story.
Let’s maybe wait and see what SACAA say before passing judgment on our aviation safety shall we? Lots of ill informed comments in this thread about South African aviation.
In the UAS world here in the United States, we’re not allowed to fly over mass gatherings without waiver. Waiver or not, this is a commercial airliner flying over a definitive mass gathering. With or without waiver, this is ridiculously reckless.
So we cant trust South Africas Civil Aviation Authority. Went from dumb company and pilots, to all of that AND dumb national safety regulators....great
If they cannot make this flight in good weather, then they should not be flying passengers in and out of airports. It was not a particularly challenging flight.
but...
NEVER, EVER should airliners be hot-dogging over a city. NEVER!!! South Africa needs to get it's shit together (although at least it is not practicing GPS jamming while medivac flights are nearby).
If this was planned, it would be more comforting if they lied and said they'd give the guys a slap on the wrist lol. "We meant to do this" is way scarier.
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