Hover Dynamics

COMPANY PROFILE

Hover Dynamics is run by people dedicated to aviation, particularly helicopter flying.

From a modest start, the company has grown to become one of the largest operators of helicopters in South Africa.

Based at Grand Central Airport (Midrand, Gauteng) and Kimberley International Airport (Northern Cape Province), Helicopter Training Services commenced operations in 1988 as a helicopter pilot training school and flying club.

In 1989 David Baard enrolled at HTS, his aim being to become a commercial pilot on helicopters.

Within 5 weeks he had obtained his PPL and was offered part time work at the school which he used to subsidize his further training.

David Baard qualified as a CPL in 1992 and passed his instructors rating in 1993. He holds ratings on 7 different helicopter types and has flown more than 4000 hours, including 1400 hours on R22's and 2300 hours on R44's.

David Baard is the chief flying instructor for the school and has more than 2400 hours of instructional flying experience.

Most of the full time instructors at Hover Dynamics are graduates of the school.

They have also all attended the Robinson Factory Safety courses sponsored by Hover Dynamics in South Africa every two years.

Their average experience in terms of flying hours is in excess of 2 500 hours with more than 1 000 hours each of instruction.

Soon after David had qualified as an instructor, he and a colleague bought the company but knew that charter, sales and maintenance needed to be incorporated into HTS together with the training.

In 1995 the new name of Hover Dynamics was adopted so as to reflect the expansion of the company.

During this period several contracts were negotiated and associations formed, amongst them with Tony and Dean Feldmann, who owned and flew two R44 helicopters.

Finally in July 1998, an agreement was reached which formed a new partnership between David, Tony and Dean.

Dean is a commercial pilot with more than 2 000 hours of experience and Tony is a private pilot with more than 700 hours to his name.

A point of pride is that most of the owners and the full time instructors were trained at Hover Dynamics.

Our vision is to expand and promote the use of helicopters in several areas.

Hover Dynamics is licensed for training, non-scheduled charter operations and general air services including aerial photography, radio patrols, scenic flights, aerial tours, vehicle tracking & locating, game capture, darting, culling and counting.

Our mission is to service our client's needs and expectations while maintaining our proud reputation of being the school with the highest standard in South Africa. For us safety is not negotiable.