This is a report back from Karl Jensen after his meeting with Sid Bottom and the time he preparing for Thursday evenings Talk Show:
“Yesterday I spent more than 4 hours at Sid Bottom’s home preparing for the Thursday Flying Legends Talk Show.”
Sid Bottom has an amazing history and has been involved in all manner of flying ranging from his illustrious RAF career as an operational Hawker Hunter pilot to an instructor on Folland Gnats. He joined SAA and rose through the ranks to become a B747 Captain. I believe one of the most enlightening aspects of my meeting with Sid regarded his tenure in SAA as Chief Safety Officer, a post which he filled 6 months after the Helderberg disaster. Sid became Deputy Chief Pilot of SA Express when it was founded and became Chief Pilot a year later. Gentleman Sid is now retired from professional flying and has many a tale to tell that is likely to enthrall our Talk Show audience. It will be impossible to cover all the interesting aspects of Sid’s aviation career in one evening.
With Flight Lieutenant Ben Hodges who is serving at the Makhado Air Force base on the BAE Hawk integration into SAAF service, the evening is bound to be thrilling. Ben has accumulated almost 2000 fast jet hours that include missions in Iraq on Operations SOUTHERN WATCH and TELIC flying Tornado GR4’s in IX(B) Squadron RA
- Date: Thursday 15th October 2009
- Time: 18h30 for 19h30 (time to order your Boerewors/Steak roll & drinks)
- Venue: EAA Auditorium adjacent to TAC and Holding point of Runway 29. Take the Hurricane Road entrance (NOT through the main gate)
- Cost: R30 (R20 for card carrying EAA, Aero Club & SAAMS members)
- Booking: Booking essential! Send an e-mail or simply phone Anne-Louise at the office between 09h00 & 17h00. If you want a specific seat, see seating plan.
Jeremy Woods
EAA Project Coordinator
EAA Auditorium
Rand Airport
