News round up

4IR is coming for you

From keeping planes in the sky to understanding what the Fourth Industrial Revolution will really mean to South Africa, Phaphedi Moabelo is a rising star in the public sector ICT space.

18 July 2019

Air travel is a wonderful thing. If you think about it, it’s not natural for humans to reach heights of 37 000 feet, especially in a large, heavy metal object, but millions of us fly every day. And on the whole, it’s a safe activity. But have you ever sat in an airplane at the gate waiting for the engineers to fix something before the flight can leave and had a moment of anxiety about the engineers’ competency? Who checks up on them? Who ensures that the pilots have the correct skills to fly 400 passengers thousands of kilometres? Surely someone must certify the military pilots who whoosh overhead at high speed, or the stunt pilots looping the loop in our skies? Locally, the body that looks after aviation safety and security is the Civil Aviation Authority of South Africa (CAA). The authority is the local member of the ICAO – International Civil Aviation Organisation – and is required to follow and enforce its standards and strict aviation rules.

“We’re responsible for licensing aviation personnel – pilots (private and military, planes and helicopters), airline crew and the engineers on the ground who work on the various styles of aircraft,” says Phaphedi Moabelo, who is CIO of the body.

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