AVIATION AGAINST POACHING
Chopper-poachers are falsifying the aircraft registration numbers on the helicopters used
for rhino poaching, or blanking them out completely. Pilots / helicopter owners please
register your helicopters by filling in the online form below and submitting a recent image. By
collecting an extensive country-wide database of helicopters, their areas of operation and an
image of each machine, investigators will have a “quick reference guide” available to them to
determine a false registration.
The use of helicopters to poach rhino and the fact that individuals even
considering themselves to be pilots are aiding and abetting such an unforgivable act has enraged the aviation community in South Africa.
Our plea to all pilots: please avoid low level flying over wildlife areas. By eliminating unnecessary low level flying you eliminate unnecessary and time consuming investigation by the relevant authorities, security companies and the SACAA. Pilots that are reported will be contacted by the SACAA , as is happening already. Significantly reducing the number of aircraft flying low over reserve areas also helps to make poaching flights all the more obvious.
All members of the aviation community can play a vital role towards information gathering and the identification of pilots and/or aircraft involved in the poaching of rhino.
Helicopters with legitimate reasons to be flying low level must ensure that they are on frequency 124.8 at all times. Ground reporting networks to monitor and report all low level aircraft activity are being established across the country - if a farm owner establishes radio comms please understand if he is rude to you! Identify yourself, aircraft colour, make, registration, number of passengers, reason for the flight, destination etc. - give as much information as possible and talk slowly.
If you are going to be flying in the bush, ask the client to make your aircraft registration, description and pilot details known to his neighbouring farm owners, the local security networks and police.
Be vigilant – while in the air you’re a member of an Anti-poaching Air Wing. While on the ground / in the hangar / at the airport you may just notice, see or hear something suspect. The same applies to Aircraft Engineers and hangar staff.
Discretion is the key – a pilot heartless enough to partake in the gunning down of a rhino is not someone you want to confront, even if you have known him for years. Familiarise yourselves with the reporting page on the site and submit tip-offs anonymously if need be.
As a security measure, investigative tool and as an act of transparency and good will, helicopter owners are requested to register their aircraft using the data collection form below. All information gathered will be filtered into a centralised database, to be accessed when helicopter sightings come in. The database will be used solely for the purposes as requested and outlined in this website.
Your registration details will remain on the page once submitted, to aid multiple aircraft registrations.
Helicopter Register
Helicopter Details