The only aviation tyre test centre other than the university of North Dakota has recently been approved by Goodyear. Before 43 Air School at Port Alfred could boast this high accolade, it was screened thoroughly to ensure a uniform standard for these specialised products.
Flying is a serious business at Port Alfred's 43 Air School, arguably the top training centre for the world's best airlines. With 40 registered aircraft logging the hours of future commercial pilots, this flying academy has an impeccable safety record.
And the single and twin-propeller Piper aircraft in the fleet rely exclusively on Goodyear aviation tyres for the numerous safe take-offs and landings required during training.
Paul de Villiers, Goodyear SA's Aviation Tyres division's sales manager for Southern Africa, says the more than 4 000 flying hours a month recorded at 43 Air School makes it perfect to measure the performance of Goodyear aviation tyres against its major competitors.
"Since the only other test centre is located in the Northern Hemisphere, Port Alfred was selected as the ideal facility in the Southern Hemisphere - with an aircraft fleet compatible with that utilised at the University of North Dakota.
"The test results recorded here are fed to the analysts in America to measure Goodyear's performance. Durability and safe landings are the main criteria when evaluating aircraft tyres," says Paul.
In a tyre wear evaluation conducted at the University of North Dakota, 58 main landing gear tyres were tested for wear on 29 Piper Warrior and Arrow aircraft. These tyres included Goodyear Flight Custom III, Goodyear Flight Special II and Michelin Air. At approximately every 60 hours of flight time, the tyres were checked for remaining tread depth at three points in every groove, tyre pressure, and the number of landings.
Results showed that Goodyear Flight Custom III provided an average of 1 386 landings compared to Michelin Air's average of 953. That means the Goodyear aviation tyres gave 45 percent more landings than its leading competitor.
"We are honoured to be associated with 43 Air School and its new status as an official test centre for Goodyear Aviation," according to Paul. "Together we have a valuable source of top class products with international research results to support our claims."
Frik Schoombee, executive marketing director at 43 Air School, says some of the world's best airlines rely on the Port Alfred faculty to train their pilots for flying international routes. These include South African Airways, Air Seychelles, Air Malawi, Kenia Airlines, Namib Air and Air Botswana. Future holders of commercial pilots' licences also come from Australia, New Zealand and Europe for training in ideal conditions along the Eastern Cape coast.
"We have three state-of-the-art flight simulators and our weather conditions favour in-flight training of the highest standard. From here, the prospective airline pilots can quite easily convert to the requirements set in their countries of origin," says Frik.
On average, it takes a student 10 months to a year to complete the ground training and record the minimum flying hours for a commercial licence. A private pilot's licence can be acquired within 40 days at the school. Strict procedures and regular screening by the best available instructors ensure that students keep up with the exacting standards throughout the training programme.
