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South African National Parks on Monday celebrated Captain David Simelane, South Africa’s first black game capture rated pilot.
Nicknamed “Blackhawk”, Simelane completed his game capture rating, which is an endorsement on his pilot license, with "flying colours" earlier this month.
SANParks CEO Fundisile Mketeni said, “We are extremely proud of Simelane and his achievement. He is an inspiration to many young black aspiring pilots and we hope that his passion will inspire more people to choose this industry as their careers.”
“Game capture rating is a very complex pilot endorsement rating where a helicopter pilot needs to take into consideration the environment, animals and the crew all while managing the actual helicopter itself,” he said.
Simelane has been a helicopter pilot for 16 years and has flown all over the world including Madagascar and South Sudan and started working for SANParks earlier this year.
“I have a passion for flying and now I get to combine that with my love for wildlife and nature. I wake up in the morning knowing that every flight I do is to make a difference in nature conservation and in people’s lives,” Simelane said.
He said working as a pilot for SANParks was a calling since he fell in love with wildlife 25 years ago.
Mketeni said Simelane’s achievement was a reflection of SANParks’ action to improve employees’ expertise to address inequalities and disparities in staff profiles.
