Page 17 - World Airnews Magazine January 2021 Edition

SAF BOOK REVIEW

PARTS FROM JOBURG TO BY THE SEAT OF HIS PANTS

ZURICH

ail Rosslee’s father was a pilot and an adventurer who lived
Glife to the fullest. At the ripe old age of 83 he wrote his
aviator memoirs. Gail wrote this short review.
At the age of 83, my father, Captain Chris John Rosslee, surrounded
by his many logbooks, began writing his memoir. But first he had to

learn how to use a computer - an early version PC.
t the end of last year, Swiss Hardly an obstacle for someone who had flown 27 different aircraft

AWorld Cargo fl ew special cargo over 30 years, had designed and build three houses (with just a couple

onboard a B777-300ER from Johannesburg of workers), had sailed the Med and crossed the Atlantic with my moth-
to Zurich. er, had created wonderful metal artworks and at 85 years old would be
The cargo consisted of individual parts on the curved roof of his St Francis Bay home, changing the thatch for

that will be used to build the world's first individually-cut tiles.
four-seater electric aircraft with a modular My father was a remarkable man. A humble man who came from a

battery system. background of poverty and dyslexia and conquered all odds. His memoir

e-Sling, a focus project of the Swiss Fed- reverberates with his dry humour, numerous exploits, and his determina-

eral Institute of Technology (ETH), received tion to live life to the limit.
the shipment in Zurich. His published memoir, ‘By the Seat of my Pants: Memoir of a Pilot’, focuses

This special ETH project, launched in on his flying life, through World War II as a SAAF Junkers Ju86 bomber pilot,

September last year and is scheduled to run and as a senior pilot for SAA until his retirement. The blurb on the book reads as

until May 2021 this year and will see the follows:

development and assembly of an adapted “With a defective undercarriage, minimum fuel, lousy weather and relying

electric aircraft. on primitive instrumentation, how do you land a Boeing?

The aircraft is based on the South African ‘By the Seat of my Pants: Memoir of a Pilot’ is a deeply personal

Sling TSi model, and has a span width of the aforementioned sustainable electric parts into the cargo hold of our aircraft, as memoir of courageous determination. One man’s life of flying ad-

10.5 metres. It will operate using a modular aircraft, which, once completed, can be well as where in the cargo hold they would ventures; occasionally perilous, often hilarious.

battery system as well as an electric motor, used for a wide variety of purposes. be best positioned. Ahead of the journey, An intrepid but humble man refuses to allow his dyslexia and

and is expected to fly up to 250 kilometres The engineers are ETH students, who this necessitated close contact with both poverty to decide his future.

in distance at a speed of up to 160 kilome- are interested in being part of the e-Sling and Swissport, Swiss World Cargo’s Captain Rosslee tracks aviation history captaining

tres/hour. development of this next-generation ramp handling partners in Johannesburg twenty-seven aircraft types from Gipsy Moths to

The e-Sling team consists of 12 electri- airplane model. and South Africa, responsible for the load- Boeings.

cal and mechanical engineers, who are Initially, an analysis was conducted in ing and unloading of individual parts onto During WW2, as a Junkers Ju86 Allied bomber
focused on the assembly and launch of order to assess how to load the largest the aircraft. Q pilot, he contends with makeshift maps, extreme

weather conditions and limited fuel over the inhos-
pitable East African bush. He survives three WW2
forced-landings.
GABON BIOFUEL PLANT chance keeps him alive.
With Comet 1, doomed to dis-integrate mid-air, pure
Over the Indian Ocean, two dead engines, the third about to
die, where is his closest land?
The book is now available on Amazon in both Paperback and Ebook

format. It’s a great read. Here: http://viewbook.at/SeatofmyPants-

lam Palm is se�ng up a new Memoir or get a hold of Gail on her email: info@chrisrosslee.com
Oplant producing biofuel from
palm oil in Gabon.

The Singapore-based multinational

firm will construct the plant in the
southern part of Libreville, on an area of

five hectares not far from the port, after

obtaining all the regulatory authorisa-
tions for the production of biofuel in the

African country.

The site was picked because it offers An historic Hawker Hunter fighter, one

easy access for importing equipment of which featured in the first Royal

and exporting by-products from palm of the palm oil sector as the country capacity of 200 tonnes, in addition International Air Tattoo staged at North

oil processing. concentrates more on the preservation to a palm oil refinery with a produc- Weald airfield in Essex in 1971, provided

The construction and commissioning of the environment and the fight against tion capacity of 750 tonnes a day in the backdrop to the launch by co-founder

of this biodiesel plant should provide climate change. the country. Tim Prince of a special book published to
hundreds of direct and indirect jobs. Olam Palm firmly believes that this A company spokesman said, “It pres- mark the air show’s 50th anniversary

For the government, the production project will bring Gabon into a new era. ents itself as the largest sustainable pro-

of biofuel will be less polluting and will The company already operates a ducer of palm oil on a concession with a Copyright: Air Tattoo/ Photo

also strengthen the competitiveness consumer oil packaging unit with a total area of 202,000 ha in Gabon.” Q location: Kemble Airfield
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