The Sling Squawk – June 2026
7 Jun 2026
“It’s not going to last. You know that, right?”
“Yes, well I guess we’ll see.”
That was how conversations went when I arrived in Port Elizabeth with our first Sling in December of 2012.
Well, it’s 10 years on and our fleet of six years Slings have accumulated in excess of 35,000 flight hours. ZU-IAE has 7,300 hours on it, making it the highest-hour Sling in the world. This article tells the story of our experience of keeping our Slings airworthy.”
– Gerhard Van Eeden
After twenty-five days, countless flights, three countries and more adventures than we ever could have planned for, the African flying adventure of Josh Flowers and Chelsea Smith of Aviation101, along with Chris Lammert and Keelyn Costello, has reached its final chapter. But there’s still plenty of Africa left to explore…