British citizen makes a mockery of South African civil aviation law

With little more than fishing line connecting helium-filled balloons tied to an aluminium frame strapped to a common camping chair, a British citizen has made a mockery of South African civil aviation law.

He drifted illegally in his uncontrolled contraption into some of the busiest airlanes on the African continent, where flights into OR Tambo International Airport, Lanseria and Wonderboom airports share a comparatively small piece of airspace.

Self-proclaimed “adventurist” Tom Morgan, celebrated by British media as a “thrill-seeker” who flew “across South Africa” – about 24km wide according to the distance Morgan travelled – claimed he reached a height of more than 2.5km from his starting point somewhere north of Johannesburg.

And the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) is not amused.

“Failure to adhere to stipulated regulations leaves the SACAA with no choice but to administer punitive measures in accordance with the severity of the transgression,” said the authority’s spokesperson, Kabelo Ledwaba.

“Our preliminary investigation and records perused thus far indicate that the alleged incident, which without the necessary approval would be a transgression against civil aviation regulations, was not reported to the SACAA,” Ledwaba said.

“Most importantly, we could not find any evidence up to this point of a request for approval to undertake such an activity and as such have not approved the operation.”

Ledwaba noted the failure to adhere to certain basic requirements was extremely dangerous, not only to the operator of the device but to other aircraft using the airspace, particularly in congested air traffic areas.

Completely at the mercy of prevailing winds, Morgan said he was pushed towards OR Tambo International Airport.

“The nerve-wracking, two-anda-half hour flight took Mr Morgan close to the approaches to Johannesburg Airport – but that was not his only concern,” the Daily Mail reported this week.

“He added: ‘I didn’t know what height the balloons would burst, or what the sun would do to them,” Morgan told the publication. “

That was so cool,” was how Morgan described his journey on his YouTube video.

“I had to hurriedly pop the balloons to get back to earth after I had reached over 8 300ft and reports of strong winds on their way were radioed through to me,” said Morgan. – amandaw@citizen.co.za

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