Mayday Articles
Reinventing myself: Creating a new flight path
The aviation industry is in unprecedented and turbulent times. Overnight, our flight path has suddenly changed from routing to our planned destination to diverting to an alternate with no guarantee we will ever reach the place we had originally intended to go. During...
Coping with Change
“I turn on the radio, I switch on the tv, I click on News 24 … just another devastating report regarding the precarious future of our airlines and aviation industry adding to my uncertainty and anxiety. There’s anger and frustration too! Family and friends call...
Sleep and Stress – The eternal conundrum
The eternal conundrum - the more tired you are the less you able to cope with stress, and more stressed you become the less you able to sleep. Whether we are aware of it or not, the uncertainty within the aviation industry since March, and before that for some of us,...
Covid VS The Drag Curve
Our beloved aviation industry has always enjoyed the privilege of connecting people. Whether it be for family or business, flying tourists from remote Van Zylsrus to Bloemfontein in a Cessna Caravan or connecting loved ones to New York from Johannesburg in an...
Release to service: Flying and the pandemic
Like it or not, 2020 will go down in aviation history as one of the most memorable years in our careers. In the space of only a few months, aviation went from being on an incredible trajectory of growth to stumbling to one of its lowest points ever. However, as...
Depression and Anxiety: The SACAA Mood Disorder Protocol
The South African aviation industry has been in a state of distress for many months, even before the COVID-19 pandemic came along and halted flying worldwide. During the time of the hard lockdown levels 5 and 4, when all flying ceased, there were many worried aviators...
Student Pilots Self-Care
Feeling stressed? Feeling tired, fatigued and worn out? Putting off important tasks to the last moment? Hitting stumbling blocks/obstacles in training and not knowing how to overcome them? These factors can cause immense stress as it takes a toll on your mind and...
Student Pilot Self-Care-Habits of Effective Pilots
Stephen Covey published the book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in 1989, in which he says that these 7 habits build on each other to create greater personal and interpersonal effectiveness. Here we have taken each habit, with Covey’s initial description, and...
Keeping safe and healthy over the holidays
For many of us 2020 has been an extremely challenging year. January and February had us focused on our New Year’s resolutions, but from the 26th March 2020 our lives suddenly changed for the unforeseeable future. During the year we have navigated social isolation, new...