Ryan Charton

Family man, friend, sportsman, sportsfan, braaiman, world traveller. Nothing work related. Believe life is short...gotta go flat out.

[Gina @ginnydmm]

‼️ Warning ‼️

DO NOT FLY SAA!!!

“This story is care of a highly experienced Airline Captain & its true & accurate and even if you have no aviation knowledge, you can still understand the severity of what occurred, and yet people still fly SAA ...NOT ME !

This is a big one. The story needs to be told. I’ll tell you why once I’m done. It’s so big and raises such concern that this account really needs to have been researched and related by a respected investigative journalist. But there is a level of understanding which is needed to relate this story. I’m not a journalist. But I have around 7,000 hours flying modern generation Airbus Fly-by-Wire (FBW) airliners, so here goes. I’ll let the journo’s take over, once I’ve said what I need to.

Last Monday, 11th May ‘26 was forecast to be hellish weather in the South-Western Cape. A huge cold-front was curling in from the deep southern Atlantic Ocean. Any self-disrespecting pilot who had any doubt in their abilities (there are many when considering such conditions) should have booked off sick if they’d seen this forecast.

Neither Mother Nature, nor the forecasters disappointed and by mid-morning last Monday a perfect storm was howling over the Cape Town area, with driving rain, visibility reduced to 2,000 metres and overcast clouds at 700’ at Cape Town International Airport. But that’s not the worst of it. The brutal wind was blowing at 37 knots, gusting up to 53 knots from the North West. That’s 68 km/h, gusting to 98 kilometres per hour. Now that in itself would be enough to send chills down the spine of the most seasoned, experienced pilot. But North-West of Cape Town International airport sits the massif of Table Mountain. The turbulence coming off Table Mountain was hurtling straight towards Cape Town’s airport and the Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach for Runway 01. But the wind wasn’t blowing down that soaking wet runway, it was blowing across the runway. The crosswind component was 34 knots, with a headwind component of 40 knots. The maximum demonstrated crosswind for an Airbus A320 airliner is 38 knots.

Numerous airliners attempted approaches in these hellish conditions. When the wind was at its strongest, mid-morning, there were far more go-around missed approaches being conducted than successful landings. That’s the safe option - if the crew are not satisfied that they can safely fly and land the aircraft then go-around; try again if you’re brave enough (and have sufficient fuel to do so) or divert to an airport where the weather is better. A few airliners were, quite remarkably, able to land without incident in these gut-wrenching conditions. To do so required above-average piloting skills; only a superb, natural, gifted pilot could use all of the capabilities of his or her aircraft, coupled with his or her skills and experience, in order to get their aircraft to the runway and then land it on a wet runway, in reduced visibility, at what was right on the maximum demonstrated (by test pilot) crosswind for these aircraft.

Springbok 313 (SAA 313) was inbound from Johannesburg for Cape Town. The aircraft, an Airbus A320, registration ZS-SZH, had a full load on board. The Captain had had a tough choice prior to departure from Johannesburg - she had eight non-revenue staff on board as passengers. Her mandated destination alternate airport was George. Her flightplan provided for sufficient fuel for engine start, fuel for taxi out in Joburg, the takeoff, climb, flight to Cape Town, plus a 5% contingency, an approach at Cape Town, missed approach and diversion to the nominated alternate (George in her case) plus 5% contingency for the diversion and then sufficient fuel to hold at 1,500’ above George airport for 30 minutes. That’s it; that’s the legal requirement. The engines on an Airbus A320 use about 2,500 litres of Jet A1 fuel per hour, for both engines. That’s a rough estimate; a ball-park amount.

[DUA LIPA @DUALIPA]

David Attenborough eat your heart out!!!!! 🫀🫀🫀

I just had the most incredible trip of my life in South Africa. Being so close to such beautiful animals in their natural habitat, between Kruger Park and Sabi Sands, was something I can barely put into words. It was truly unforgettable...one of those experiences that stays with you forever

[Ryan Charton @RyanCharton]

@SupaVanSA @Jonathan_Witt @CityofCT Cool. Interested to know why you think these “millions more people” are moving to the Cape then?

[Ryan Charton @RyanCharton]

That’s not great! Most people I know (including myself) wake up quite a lot earlier than that. Kids are not getting enough sleep (before school) - that is for sure.

[World of Statistics @stats_feed]

Average wake-up time:

🇿🇦 South Africa - 6:24 AM
🇨🇴 Colombia - 6:31 AM
🇨🇷 Costa Rica - 6:38 AM
🇮🇩 Indonesia - 6:55 AM
🇯🇵 Japan - 7:09 AM
🇲🇽 Mexico - 7:09 AM
🇦🇺 Australia - 7:13 AM
🇺🇸 United States - 7:20 AM
🇸🇪 Sweden - 7:21 AM
🇩🇪 Germany - 7:25 AM
🇵🇭 Philippines - 7:28 AM
🇧🇷 Brazil - 7:31 AM
🇨🇦 Canada - 7:33 AM
🇬🇧 United Kingdom - 7:33 AM
🇮🇳 India - 7:36 AM
🇰🇷 South Korea - 7:38 AM
🇲🇾 Malaysia - 7:41 AM
🇨🇳 China - 7:42 AM
🇦🇪 UAE - 7:43 AM
🇫🇷 France - 7:51 AM
🇮🇹 Italy - 7:52 AM
🇹🇷 Türkiye - 8:02 AM
🇪🇸 Spain - 8:05 AM
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia - 8:27 AM

According to World Population Review

[World of Statistics @stats_feed]

Average wake-up time:

🇿🇦 South Africa - 6:24 AM
🇨🇴 Colombia - 6:31 AM
🇨🇷 Costa Rica - 6:38 AM
🇮🇩 Indonesia - 6:55 AM
🇯🇵 Japan - 7:09 AM
🇲🇽 Mexico - 7:09 AM
🇦🇺 Australia - 7:13 AM
🇺🇸 United States - 7:20 AM
🇸🇪 Sweden - 7:21 AM
🇩🇪 Germany - 7:25 AM
🇵🇭 Philippines - 7:28 AM
🇧🇷 Brazil - 7:31 AM
🇨🇦 Canada - 7:33 AM
🇬🇧 United Kingdom - 7:33 AM
🇮🇳 India - 7:36 AM
🇰🇷 South Korea - 7:38 AM
🇲🇾 Malaysia - 7:41 AM
🇨🇳 China - 7:42 AM
🇦🇪 UAE - 7:43 AM
🇫🇷 France - 7:51 AM
🇮🇹 Italy - 7:52 AM
🇹🇷 Türkiye - 8:02 AM
🇪🇸 Spain - 8:05 AM
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia - 8:27 AM

According to World Population Review

[Ryan Charton @RyanCharton]

@KP24 @IS_Netwrk29 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[The Spectator Index @spectatorindex]

World's best cities, 2025.

1. 🇿🇦 Cape Town
2. 🇹🇭 Bangkok
3. 🇺🇸 New York
4. 🇦🇺 Melbourne
5. 🇬🇧 London
6. 🇺🇸 New Orleans
7. 🇲🇽 Mexico City
8. 🇵🇹 Porto
9. 🇨🇳 Shanghai
10. 🇩🇰 Copenhagen
11. 🇺🇸 Chicago
12. 🇵🇹 Lisbon
13. 🇬🇧 Edinburgh
14. 🇭🇰 Hong Kong
15. 🇦🇺 Sydney
16. 🇳🇱 Amsterdam
17. 🇪🇸 Barcelona
18. 🇪🇸 Seville
19. 🇫🇷 Paris
20. 🇨🇴 Medellín
21. 🇳🇬 Lagos
22. 🇪🇸 Valencia
23. 🇮🇩 Jakarta
24. 🇰🇷 Seoul
25. 🇩🇪 Berlin

(Time Out)

[Ryan Charton @RyanCharton]

@SahilBloom Hilarious. You were definitely going to the wrong bars!!

[Ryan Charton @RyanCharton]

@WandileSihlobo Interested to know how there is any trade at all - as the major South African banks will not pay / transfer funds to Iranian entities. Likewise, I don’t believe they will accept funds from Iranian banks / entities. Any insights into that?

[Ryan Charton @RyanCharton]

@JohannBiermann1 Hermanus.

[Chalyn.Rugby @ChalynRugby]

If you followed the Ashes, you know it’s the absolute pinnacle of sport. Drama, history, intensity, everything. If I had to show a non-cricket fan what cricket truly is, I’d show them the Ashes.

Rugby needs something like that.

The All Blacks vs Springboks “Greatest Rivalry” tour in 2026 will become exactly that for rugby. The drama will be there, the quality will be elite, and as fans we’ll make sure it reaches heights a rugby tournament has never touched before.

Hopefully Australia and England can also organise a Rugby Ashes like the NRL did. Rugby needs more marquee events, more moments, more rivalries. And it’s up to all of us, players, unions, and fans to drive it forward. 🤝

#Ashes2025 #Springboks #Allblacks #RSAvNZL 🇿🇦🇳🇿

[Ryan Charton @RyanCharton]

@jaredwright17 There are no “Pools of death” with the broadened WC. Too many weak teams (which I get - but makes pool stages very easy for the Tier 1 nations)

[Ryan Charton @RyanCharton]

@RugbyBits @Springboks Is there no @RugbyChampionsh next year because of the incoming @AllBlacks tour?

[Will Slattery @slatterywill]

Countries where Rassie Erasmus has won a Test match: France, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, England, Wales, Scotland, Italy & Japan

Countries where he hasn't: Ireland

Ireland vs Springboks in Dublin on November 22

[Scrumming Flyhalf @scrumming_ten]

A friendly reminder that South Africa was the recommended candidate to host the 2023 World Cup, until France offered bribes to the right people at World Rugby

In a victory for the good guys, South Africa would eliminate France in the QF of that self-same World Cup!

[Ryan Charton @RyanCharton]

@Brendennel Surely they asked him to plead / what he had done etc? If he admitted to it - then surely that would be sufficient evidence, in which case I think he is lucky just to get 9 weeks.
If he denies it, and is still “convicted” on that evidence - then an absolute shocker!

[Ryan Charton @RyanCharton]

@scrumming_ten Probably the best first half of rugby I’ve ever watched!

[Ryan Charton @RyanCharton]

@BrentLindeque That’s the best weather you will get all summer in JHB ;-)

[Thomas Sowell Quotes @ThomasSowell]

“Socialism only works in two places: Heaven where they don't need it and hell where they already have it.”

— Ronald Reagan