Hartbeespoort pilots John Comley and Paul Ludick recently received the SA Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) award for best Research and Development in advancing flight safety during emergency forced landing into trees.
“During the emergency landing trees are used to increase chances of survival during an emergency landing,” said Paul Ludick. “We can now refer to trees as “Angel hands” as it helps to increase the deceleration time during an emergency landing. This is also a world-first as this research has not yet been done at this level anywhere in the world.”Ludick is the author of the pilot guide FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees.