SUSAN PRINSLOO - THE ONLY GIRLBOSS FLYING A TIGER MOTH PLANE IN AFRICA

This week saw us meeting up with Susan Prinsloo, one of only seven women in the world flying 90 year old Tiger Moth legends.

They say that the sky’s the limit but for Susan Prinsloo, it is her playground! Growing up in Kempton Park, Susan’s family home was on the take off path of 03 Left of OR Tambo.

I always loved watching the aircrafts taking off over our house, but I never thought that I would ever be in control of an aircraft at that age.” 

Her interest in aviation only came later in life, at the age of 34, when her friend took her on a microlight flight. The trip truly left a mark on her because less than a week later, she started her flying training. Soon, Susan obtained her microlight license and went on to complete her gyroplane license as well.

“I was one of very few women who flew gyroplanes at that stage.”

Susan completed her Private Pilots License (PPL), Commercial Pilots License (CPL), and Instructors License through National Airways Corporation at Rand Airport and in 2010 became a partner in a flight school at Rand Airport. 

It was at the flight school that she was first introduced to the Tiger Moth plane. 

“I instantly fell in love with the aircraft.”

Before his famed World War 2 bomber The Mosquito, aircraft designer Geoffrey de Havilland was best known for this beauty and so many pilots who went on to fly jet fighters, The Concorde or massive jumbos learned to fly in a Tiger Moth.

We’re told this aircraft is easy to learn to fly but hard to master – and demands a pilot’s attention. So much so that Susan was amazed to find out that she is one of a rare group behind the controls of this plane.

She is now the only woman in Africa who is rated and licensed on the Tiger Moth and is one of seven women globally that is licensed on the Tiger Moth.

When she is not flying, Susan is serving as a committee member at the Brakpan Aero Club.

This is only the beginning for Susan as she is currently in the final stages of opening a helicopter flight training facility at Brakpan Airfield, where she will be the Chief Flight Instructor.

She is also currently busy with her conversion on a YAK52, which was a military training aircraft in Russia that is faster than the Tigermoth!

Wherever the skies may take her, we wish Susan a safe flight.

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