The Sling Squawk – June 2026
7 Jun 2026
“Aircraft are often designed around engines. Sling’s aircraft certainly are – the company founder has been the Rotax distributor in Southern Africa for more than 30 years! What a joy to have an engine developer and manufacturer produce the perfect engine for the job.
The Rotax 916 iS engine has truly transformed the Sling 4 TSi aircraft into a dream machine! To develop an aircraft for a 141 hp motor, and then to be served up 160 hp with no weight, installation or operating penalty is sublime. The Rotax 916 iS is a truly modern, highly sophisticated yet rugged, light, powerful, quiet and economical engine.
I have had the pleasure of flying the Rotax 916 iS engine both in the Sling 4 TSi and Sling 4 High Wing for more than 300 hours, both in local and long cross-country flights. The engine is smooth, predictable, powerful and reliable. It’s simple to operate and feels like the civilised end product of a long period of refinement. It has transported me to surrounding states, on family holidays, paragliding and cycling trips and more recently, in a race from Johannesburg to Cape Town against a commercial jetliner.
At all times, I’m left feeling deeply confident and comfortable. It genuinely is a pleasure to have power and fuel to spare, and speed to play with, when heavily loaded and setting out on a long trip into far and lonely places.
Despite having flown a pre-production, followed by early serial number 916 engines, I’ve not experienced a single error or failure in 300 hours of tough African flight. There is not a better, more modern, efficient and cleverly designed aircraft engine out there. That the engine appears perfectly designed as a powerplant for the Sling range of 4-seat aircraft is an almost religious stroke of luck. Long live the Rotax 916 iS!”
– James Pitman (Sling Aircraft Joint CEO)
After reaching Cape Town in Part 2, Josh Flowers and Chelsea Smith of Aviation101, along with Chris Lammert and Keelyn Costello, reunite with friends and fly their Sling aircraft north from Stellenbosch through the Tankwa Karoo, before crossing into Namibia and exploring the spectacular Fish River Canyon. From formation flying and the Tanqua Kuru Bicycle Race to fireside celebrations and an off-airport landing in the desert, the journey becomes less about following a plan and more about embracing whatever comes next—because sometimes the most memorable part of flying happens after the engine shuts down.