Air Force Base (AFB) Bloemspruit, the SA Air Force (SAAF) helicopter centre of excellence, has new commanders for its two flying units.
Lieutenant Colonel Omphile Mutloane is the new Officer Commanding Rooivalk combat support helicopter unit 16 Squadron, while 87 Helicopter Flying School (HFS) is now in the capable hands of Lieutenant Colonel Zanele Vayeke, taking over from Lieutenant Colonel Olebogeng Modisaesi.
Before handing command of the squadron to Mutloane, outgoing Officer Commanding Lieutenant Colonel Mashaole Ramoipone told the change of command parade on 16 August that the squadron worked hard to meet internal and external deployment obligations, thanking air- and ground crews for their efforts – often beyond the call of duty.
“We are free in the air, we navigate our destiny as well as we fly safe and fly smart because we don’t wing it, we plan it thoroughly and keep looking up,” he is reported as telling the parade.
Mutloane joined the SAAF in 2005 and qualified as a pilot on the PC-7 in 2007. He subsequently became an Oryx and A109 pilot. In 2015 he joined the Silver Falcons aerobatic display team, executing 96 public air displays until 2017. In 2018 he was selected as Team Leader, executing 52 air displays until the end of the 2019 air show season. In 2022, after the grounding of the team and the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, Mutloane was sent back to Central Flying School to re-establish the SA Air Force’s aerobatic display team capability. He was transferred back to the helicopter line in March 2020. He completed three operational tours in the Democratic Republic of Congo as an Oryx pilot, and one tour in Mozambique as an A109 commander. He subsequently converted onto the Rooivalk, and became Officer Commanding 16 Squadron in July 2023.
Vayeke gained a measure of media exposure when it became public knowledge that she commanded the rotary-wing component of the SAAF contribution to June’s presidential inauguration at Pretoria’s Union Buildings as the first black female Officer Commanding 87 HFS.
Ad Astra magazine’s Sergeant Tshimolloyabotshelo Matsha has her saying: “This may be a male-dominated field, but that does not mean I and other ladies in the SAAF do not have a space to command the cockpit, the airspace is also our kingdom and we proudly fly through it with no fear or favour. We make it look easy, just to lay a firm foundation for those who are coming after us, we are born for this, and the thrill is ours to win as well, we remain passionate, that is why we enjoy serving. We fly because it releases our minds from petty things while we concentrate on the adrenaline because although the engine is the heart of an aircraft, we, as pilots, are the soul”.
Vayeke joined the SAAF in January 2004 and qualified as a pilot in march 2008. She subsequently qualified on the Oryx and served as an Oryx co-pilot in Durban until December 2011. Transferred to 17 Squadron in January 2012, she served as safety officer and then Flight Commander. She later served as the operations office manager and later completed the A109 officer candidate course. She qualified as a commander in June 2015 and in June 2017 qualified as an Oryx commander.
In early 2021 she was transferred to Central Flying School, completing her instructor’s course on the PC-7. She was in 2023 transferred to 87 HFS to complete her helicopter instructor conversion course on the A109. In January 2024, she was appointed as Officer Commanding 87 Helicopter Flying School. Some of her career highlights include being the first black female to command both the A109 and Oryx, and being the first black female to command 87 HFS.
Her predecessor Lieutenant Colonel Olebogeng Modisaesi was OC 87 HFS for four years, logging over three thousand flying hours in the SAAF rotary wing Agusta A109 and Oryx medium transport workhorses.
