Johannesburg - The skies of the Northern Free State were on Saturday treated to South Africa’s most magnificent aerobatic aircraft at the 2023 Parys Airshow.
After the sell-out success last year, this full-scale airshow was back and once again drew thousands of aviation fans and supporters to Parys.
Many pupils from schools in the Free State, as in many other areas of the country, might dream of flying one day, but never believe it a possibility. With less than 10% of pilots in South Africa being black, coloured or Indian, lack of transformation in the South African aviation sector is a challenge.
On Friday, the Parys Airshow and the SANDF hosted an aviation youth development programme for 150 pupils from the Free State. These pupils, who have all shown an interest in pursuing a Stem-related career after school, were able to interact and meet some of the country’s best pilots and aviation stakeholders and learnt more about career opportunities in this exciting industry.
These pupils were back on Saturday to see South Africa’s top display pilots create theatre in the skies above the Vaal River.