Bryan Air

DESCRIPTION:
Turbulence won't necessarily break the aircraft. It will hurt the people who aren't strapped in. The worst hit of my flying career came on a perfectly clear day on final approach into Johannesburg, with not a cloud in the sky, and it ended in a go-around.
This is the episode for anyone who is nervous about flying. I take you through what a Johannesburg summer thunderstorm looks like from the flight deck, what hail did to the nose of an aircraft I used to fly when it never even entered the storm, a flight where the weather radar showed nothing and a passenger died, and the one simple thing the investigators asked you, the passenger, to do about it.
Along the way: how pilots use the weather radar and the 20 mile rule to draw a line around a storm, why thermal turbulence over the Highveld is uncomfortable but not dangerous, why your Cape Town flight is late on a perfect day, what the final report on Singapore Airlines Flight 321 says about clear air turbulence and about the pilots, why some captains leave the seat belt sign on through smooth air and what that costs them, and how the wake from an A380 landing on the parallel runway reached across and hit a 50 seat regional jet on runway 03 Left.
IN THIS EPISODE:
The clear day hit: wake turbulence on final approach into O.R. Tambo and a go-around
Flying around Johannesburg summer storms: the weather radar, the 20 mile rule, TCAS and the aircraft ahead
Thermal turbulence, and what hail thrown out of the side of a storm did to the nose of an aircraft
What we train in the simulator: the decision to go around a storm, not the radar picture
Why your Cape Town flight is late on a perfect day, and the airline that still arrived on time 91 percent of the time in 2025
Clear air turbulence: Singapore Airlines Flight 321, the final report, and the one piece of advice for passengers
The seat belt sign: why it stays on, the cost of leaving it on too long, and the second pint
Table Mountain, mountain waves over George, wind shear, and how wake turbulence actually works
What you should do when the aircraft starts shaking
I'm Bryan Roseveare. I was an airline captain. I still go to work on the flight deck. It's just a full flight simulator now, and the pilots I train are the ones who fly you around.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
The Go-Around video
→ https://youtu.be/tHNSBARtGtY
SOURCES
Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (Singapore), final report on the Singapore Airlines Flight 321 turbulence event of 21 May 2024, published 19 May 2026
→ https://isomer-user-content.by.gov.sg/287/7900f2d4-78dd-4325-adae-46c128857023/B773ER%20(9V-SWM)%20Turbulence%20event%20over%20Myanmar%2021%20May%202024.pdf
FAA Advisory Circular 00-24C, Thunderstorms
→ https://www.faa.gov/documentlibrary/media/advisory_circular/ac%2000-24c.pdf
FAA Aeronautical Information Manual, Chapter 7 Section 4, Wake Turbulence
→ https://www.faa.gov/Air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html/chap7_section_4.html
Gijben, South African Journal of Science (2012), lightning flash density over South Africa
→ https://scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0038-23532012000200013
Cirium 2025 On-Time Performance Review
→ https://www.bizcommunity.com/article/cirium-reveals-2025-top-on-time-airlines-and-airports-172676a
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Patreon is what keeps this channel producing. It helps massively, and it is the best way to support what I do.
Support on Patreon
→ https://www.patreon.com/bryanair
Every episode, the full back catalogue and everything we talk about on the show lives in one place.
Bryan Air
→ https://bryanairpodcast.com/
THANK YOU TO OUR PATREON SUPPORTERS
Thank you to the people who have been carrying the show, some of them for years:
Dale Williams
Duncan Gillespie
Franziska
Jaco
Mike Mason
Iain Findlay
Caroline Koll
ACE
Catharine
Alan Macaulay
Craig Wood
Imre Kurucz
Kelvin Charman

DESCRIPTION:
Every flight through the Gulf this month is being approved on the day, one flight at a time. If your December ticket to Europe or Asia connects in Dubai or Doha, this episode tells you who makes that decision and what to do about your own booking.
This week your phone filled up with videos of missiles over Riyadh and a travel warning from Washington. I read the US security alert for the UAE word for word. It is an alert about the whole region. It does not say the Emirates is unsafe, and it tells Americans to check their flight with the airline.
Then the week as it actually happened: flames and smoke near Riyadh's main airport, which Yemen's Houthis claimed and Saudi Arabia did not confirm. Iranian airlines suspending flights to Baghdad, Muscat, Qatar, Georgia and Azerbaijan after the United States tightened sanctions. Kuwait's airspace closed to aircraft flying over it. The European regulator telling its airlines to stay out of Iran and Iraq entirely, and to avoid flying over the waters of the Gulf except when arriving at or departing from the airports there. The airports themselves are open.
South Africa feels this more than most countries because so much of our traffic to Europe and Asia connects through Dubai and Doha. When the airspace over the Emirates closed on 1 March this year, the airports company counted fourteen cancellations across Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban in a single day.
I explain how an airline decides, every single day, whether a flight goes: the security team, the regulator bulletins, and the flight plan built against whatever airspace is open that morning. Fewer open routes means longer flights, more fuel and less room to move when something changes. I also explain what the crew sees when GPS is being jammed or spoofed, and why that is manageable, because the aircraft has other ways to navigate and we now train for it in the full flight simulator.
Then three things for you: buy the ticket that lets you change, through the airline or a proper travel agent. On the day, check the airline's own flight status, not the news. And read the war and conflict line in your travel insurance.
IN THIS EPISODE
The US travel alert for the UAE, read word for word
What happened in the Gulf this week
Which airspace is open and which is restricted
Why South Africa feels it more than most countries
How an airline decides every day whether a flight goes
What happens when a route closes while you are in the air
GPS jamming and spoofing, and why pilots can manage it
Three things to do with your December ticket
The regulator dates to watch: 30 September and 2 October
I'm Bryan Roseveare. I was an airline captain. I still go to work on the flight deck. It's just a full flight simulator now, and the pilots I train are the ones who fly you around.
SOURCES
US Mission to the UAE, security alert, 19 September 2026
→ https://ae.usembassy.gov/security-alert-u-s-mission-united-arab-emirates-september-19-2026/
EASA Conflict Zone Information Bulletin CZIB-2026-07R2, airspace of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman
→ https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/domains/air-operations/czibs/czib-2026-07r2
ABC News (Reuters reporting), fire near Riyadh airport, 20 September 2026
→ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-20/fire-near-riyadh-airport-as-houthis-attack-saudi-capital/107173362
AFP via The Citizen, Iranian airlines cancel flights as US sanctions take effect, 23 September 2026
→ https://www.citizen.co.za/news/news-world/iran-airlines-cancel-flights-as-us-sanctions-hit/
OPSGROUP, Middle East airspace: current operational picture
→ https://ops.group/blog/middle-east-airspace-current-operational-picture/
Safe Airspace, independent conflict zone and risk tracker
→ https://safeairspace.net/
IOL, UAE airspace closure: ACSA reports 14 South African flights cancelled, 1 March 2026
→ https://iol.co.za/thepost/news/2026-03-01-uae-airspace-remains-closed-acsa-reports-14-sa-flights-cancelled/
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Patreon is what keeps this channel producing. It helps massively, and it is the best way to support what I do.
Support on Patreon
→ https://www.patreon.com/bryanair
Every episode, the full back catalogue and everything we talk about on the show lives in one place.
Bryan Air
→ https://bryanairpodcast.com/
THANK YOU TO OUR PATREON SUPPORTERS
A warm welcome to our newest supporter, Kelvin Charman.
And thank you to the people who have been carrying the show, some of them for years:
Dale Williams
Duncan Gillespie
Franziska
Jaco
Mike Mason
Iain Findlay
Caroline Koll
ACE
Catharine
Alan Macaulay
Craig Wood
Imre Kurucz

DESCRIPTION:
Brent crude went back through 100 dollars a barrel on 9 September after the United States and Iran started striking each other again, and it was still above 100 dollars nearly two weeks later. Fuel makes up 50 to 55 percent of what it costs FlySafair to operate a flight. Put those two facts together and you have the reason a family of four is looking at the price of flying to Cape Town this long weekend and quietly getting the car keys out instead.
Bryan and Ryan take the fuel story apart from the pilot's side of the door. Why Johannesburg has had a jet fuel supply problem of its own since an unplanned shutdown at the Natref refinery in late August, and what tankering actually means when an airline carries extra fuel into Johannesburg so it does not have to fill up there. Why FlySafair calls tankering a last resort, and why the cost of every contingency ends up in your ticket. Whether the surcharges that came in during March ever really went away when oil dipped. And the question everyone is asking: if you are flying in December, should you book now?
Then the guys tell their own low-fuel stories, and these are the best fifteen minutes of the episode. Ryan on a Friday night flight to Windhoek early in his airline career, the weather closing in, and a diversion to Gaborone flown right down to reserves. Bryan on a DC-9 to the Seychelles with his father doing the fuel calculations on a whizz wheel, the numbers getting worse and worse, until they realised his dad's watch had stopped. A CRJ out of East London with the nose gear stuck down, held at 15,000 feet and 250 knots, Bloemfontein closed by weather, and a landing in Johannesburg with about 500 kilograms of fuel left. And Ryan in a medevac Hawker coming home from Mauritius into a 160 knot headwind, when the flight computer said fuel remaining at Lanseria: zero.
Also this week: a GPS fault that grounded Azul's Embraer E2 fleet in Brazil for three hours, and why pilots are being told to expect GPS not to work. Boeing's 777X certification slipping into 2027 because the engine fix still needs testing. A missile strike on the fuel storage tanks at Riyadh's airport. Qatar Airways calling this war the biggest crisis in its history and cutting back to routes that make money. And the UK's air traffic control system failing for the second time in two weeks.
IN THIS EPISODE
Oil back above 100 dollars, and what the jet fuel price is doing to airfares.
Johannesburg's jet fuel supply squeeze after the Natref refinery shutdown.
Tankering explained: what it is, why airlines avoid it, and who pays for it.
Fuel is half the cost of a flight, so every surcharge starts there.
What a return ticket to George actually costs this weekend, and why Cape Town on FlySafair still looked reasonable.
Getting overseas without paying a fortune: the RwandAir route and flying via the UAE.
Should you book December flights now? The guys give an honest answer.
Ryan's diversion to Gaborone on reserves, and Bryan's DC-9 fuel scare that turned out to be a stopped watch.
Landing a CRJ in Johannesburg with 500 kilograms of fuel, and a medevac Hawker showing fuel remaining zero over the Indian Ocean.
The Embraer E2 GPS fault, and why GPS can no longer be trusted blindly.
Boeing 777X delayed again, the Riyadh airport fuel depot strike, Qatar Airways in crisis, and the UK's second ATC failure in two weeks.
I'm Bryan Roseveare. I was an airline captain. I still go to work on the flight deck. It's just a full flight simulator now, and the pilots I train are the ones who fly you around.
SOURCES
Brent crude tops 100 dollars as US-Iran strikes stoke supply worries, CNBC (9 September 2026)
→ https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/09/oil-prices-today-wti-brent-us-iran-hormuz-attacks.html
Current price of oil as of 21 September 2026, Fortune
→ https://fortune.com/article/price-of-oil-09-21-2026/
IATA Jet Fuel Price Monitor
→ https://www.iata.org/en/publications/economics/fuel-monitor/
September 2026 fuel price: petrol up R1.34, diesel up R2.94 inland, Daily Maverick
→ https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-31-sa-motorists-cant-escape-the-petrol-price-pain-in-september/
FlySafair introduces a temporary fuel surcharge, fuel is 50 to 55 percent of direct operating costs (11 March 2026)
→ https://news.flysafair.co.za/2026/temporary-fuel-surcharge/
Airlines consider carrying extra jet fuel to avoid disruptions at OR Tambo, EWN (28 August 2026)
→ https://www.ewn.co.za/2026/08/28/airlines-consider-carrying-extra-jet-fuel-to-avoid-flight-disruptions-at-or-tambo
Sasol refinery shutdown curbs Johannesburg jet fuel supply, Moneyweb
→ https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/industry/sa-airlines-scramble-as-jet-fuel-supply-is-disrupted/
GPS problem halts Azul's Embraer E2 flights for nearly three hours, Air Data News (22 September 2026)
→ https://www.airdatanews.com/gps-problem-halts-azuls-embraer-e2-flights-for-nearly-three-hours/
Boeing says 777-9 testing could extend into 2027 over GE9X issue, Air Data News (17 September 2026)
→ https://www.airdatanews.com/boeing-says-777-9-testing-could-extend-into-2027-over-ge-9-x-issue/
Missile hits fuel storage depot at Riyadh airport, Paddle Your Own Kanoo (19 September 2026)
→ https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2026/09/19/watch-missile-hits-fuel-storage-depot-at-riyadh-international-airport-sending-huge-plume-of-black-smoke-into-sky/
Qatar Airways faces biggest crisis in 30 years amid Iran conflict, Aviation A2Z (21 September 2026)
→ https://aviationa2z.com/index.php/2026/09/21/qatar-airways-faces-biggest-crisis-in-30-years-amid-iran-conflict/
Ryanair demands NATS chief resign after second ATC failure in two weeks, AeroXplorer
→ https://aeroxplorer.com/articles/ryanair-demands-nats-chief-resign-after-second-air-traffic-control-failure-in-two-weeks.php
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Every episode, the full back catalogue and everything we talk about on the show lives in one place. If you only click one link today, make it this one.
Bryan Air
→ https://bryanairpodcast.com/
Support on Patreon
→ https://www.patreon.com/bryanair

DESCRIPTION
One in eight airline pilots is depressed. More than half of us have avoided a doctor to protect our licence. This is why pilots stay silent, what it costs at home, and where to get help.
This is A Pilot Explains: one story, sixteen minutes, told from the flight deck. We are trained to report every defect on the aircraft, and nobody trains us to report one on ourselves. This episode is for the men who fly you home tonight: the contract pilot who walks through his front door and gets looked at like a visitor, and the local pilot who is at the dinner table every evening and not really there. South Africa held a National Aviation Gender Summit last month, and that is real progress. There is no summit for the other 80%, so Bryan does the one thing nobody else has scheduled.
IN THIS EPISODE
The homecoming nobody talks about, on a long-haul contract or a local roster
Why there is no summit for men, and the 120-year-old programme called wind your neck in and push on
The Harvard survey: one in eight airline pilots depressed, one in 25 with thoughts of being better off dead
The 2022 survey of 3,765 pilots: 56% have avoided a doctor to protect their medical certificate
Why the licence is not a qualification but an identity, and why that keeps pilots quiet
The Germanwings report, and the fear it named as a contributing factor
Joseph Emerson: six years of hidden depression, the jump seat over Oregon, and what he said afterwards
The family cost: what 300 pilots said about coming home, and the contract life nobody has studied
South Africa's three airline closures, the Gulf job, and Bryan's own two years in a flat in Johannesburg
The Gulf numbers: 68% severely fatigued, 45% asleep at the controls at least once
What is changing: Europe's mandatory peer support, the FAA antidepressant list, and the real denial rate of one in 1,000
Mayday SA, the 24-hour peer support line for South African pilots, running since 2013
The one-line checklist: pick one person and say one true sentence
I'm Bryan Roseveare. I was an airline captain. I still go to work on the flight deck. It's just a full flight simulator now, and the pilots I train are the ones who fly you around.
IF YOU NEED SOMEONE TO TALK TO
Mayday SA, 24-hour peer support for South African licence holders
→ 012 333 6000 (from outside SA: +27 12 333 6000)
Mayday SA website
→ https://mayday-sa.org.za/
SADAG Suicide Crisis Line, 24 hours
→ 0800 567 567
SOURCES
Wu et al., Airplane pilot mental health and suicidal thoughts, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Environmental Health, 2016
→ https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-016-0200-6
Hoffman et al., Healthcare avoidance in aircraft pilots due to concern for aeromedical certificate loss, survey of 3,765 pilots, 2022
→ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35166258/
FAA Mental Health and Aviation Medical Clearances Aviation Rulemaking Committee, Final Report, April 2024
→ https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/Mental_Health_ARC_Final_Report_RELEASED.pdf
BEA Final Report, Germanwings Airbus A320 D-AIPX, 24 March 2015
→ https://bea.aero/uploads/tx_elydbrapports/BEA2015-0125.en-LR.pdf
Multnomah County District Attorney, Joseph Emerson plea, Horizon Air Flight 2059
→ https://www.mcda.us/index.php/news/former-alaska-airlines-pilot-pleads-no-contest-to-trying-to-shut-down-horizon-flight-2059-engines-over-oregon
Avis, Bor and Eriksen, The Impact of Work on Pilots' Personal Relationships, Centre for Aviation Psychology, London, 2019
→ https://doi.org/10.1027/2192-0923/a000157
Aljurf et al., Sleepiness, fatigue and depression among Gulf airline pilots, Sleep and Breathing, 2017
→ https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-017-1565-7
LSE survey of 7,239 European pilots on fatigue and wellbeing, BALPA, 2016
→ https://www.balpa.org/2016/12/07/london-school-of-economics-survey-reveals-pilots-feel-fatigue-not-taken-seriously-by-airlines/
EASA, pilot support programme requirement, Regulation (EU) 2018/1042
→ https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/newsroom-and-events/news/application-requirements-commission-regulation-eu-20181042-deferred
FAA approved antidepressant medications for pilots
→ https://www.faa.gov/ame_guide/app_process/exam_tech/item47/amd/antidepressants
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Bryan Air
→ https://bryanairpodcast.com/
Support on Patreon
→ https://www.patreon.com/bryanair

DESCRIPTION:
Airports Company South Africa has posted a R1.2 billion profit on R8.81 billion of revenue, and Johannesburg airport still cannot keep its toilets open. Bryan and Ryan get to that, but first they own up to something every pilot has done at least once: carrying on with an approach that should have ended in a go-around.
It starts with the rugby. Ryan was at FNB Stadium with the kids for the Springboks win, no flypast needed. Then the Miami 767 overrun gets the guys talking about their own bad approaches. Ryan remembers arriving into Durban horrendously high in his early CRJ days and orbiting on final to lose the height. Bryan remembers the opposite mistake, descending far too early into East London and sitting at 3,000 feet with the thrust levers up, while a training captain said nothing and let the lesson teach itself. Ryan explains why descent planning in the Beech 1900 is done the old-fashioned way, with maths, and why that keeps him honest.
Then a listener question the guys have been saving for a show together: who was the worst captain you ever flew with? No names, no airline. What emerges is that the bad ones were rarely dangerous, just slow, and a slow captain on a six-sector day is a tax you pay in patience. From there it is night stops, the "slam lock" crews who never left the hotel room, why a good crew on a string of days could make or break a week, and how minimum rest and thin allowances are quietly killing the social side of the job. Bryan and Ryan's own friendship was built on night stops, so they want your stories, especially from the SAA crews who used to stop at Sal Island on the way to the States.
Also this week: an app that lets you listen to live air traffic control at American airports, including the Miami ATC recording. Emirates has finally been approved to fly Dubai to Berlin, daily, after more than 20 years of asking. Air Astana is back in Dubai. Turkish Airlines will be on the Liverpool shirt. The United States has announced new visa restrictions aimed at South African officials. Sydney Airport has put 50 electric buses into service. And AAD is on in Pretoria, with the guys wondering what there is left to see.
IN THIS EPISODE
The Springboks at FNB, and why the rugby made up for the missing flypast.
The approach you should have gone around from: Ryan high into Durban, Bryan low into East London.
Why the best training captains sometimes say nothing.
Descent planning in the Beech 1900 with no fancy screens to help.
The worst captain you ever flew with: slow, not dangerous, and why that still costs you.
Night stops, slam locks and the crew culture that minimum rest is killing.
The Miami 767 overrun, and an app for listening to live air traffic control.
Emirates cleared for Dubai to Berlin after 22 years.
Air Astana back in Dubai, and Turkish Airlines on the Liverpool shirt.
ACSA's R1.2 billion profit, and why Johannesburg airport still does not look like it.
New US visa restrictions aimed at South Africa.
Sydney Airport goes electric, AAD 2026, and why the AI conversation is coming back soon.
I'm Bryan Roseveare. Fourteen years an airline pilot, now a simulator instructor. I train the pilots flying you around.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
ATC - Live Air Traffic Radio (US airports only, seven-day trial)
→ https://apps.apple.com/za/app/atc-live-air-traffic-radio/id6755132266
SOURCES
Emirates wins approval for Dubai to Berlin after a 22-year push, Simple Flying
→ https://simpleflying.com/emirates-wins-major-germany-breakthrough-22-year-berlin-push/
ACSA revenue climbs to R8.81 billion, IOL (9 September 2026)
→ https://iol.co.za/business/2026-09-09-acsas-revenue-climbs-to-r881-billion-as-passenger-numbers-grow/
Announcement of new visa restriction policy, US State Department (15 September 2026)
→ https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesman/2026/09/announcement-of-new-visa-restriction-policy-targeting-foreign-nationals-involved-in-race-based-discrimination
Air Astana resumes Dubai services, TTR Weekly
→ https://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2026/09/air-astana-resumes-dubai-services-2/
Liverpool announce five-year shirt deal with Turkish Airlines, Al Jazeera (8 September 2026)
→ https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/9/8/liverpool-announce-five-year-shirt-sponsorship-deal-with-turkish-airlines
Sydney Airport unveils electric bus fleet, Australian Aviation
→ https://australianaviation.com.au/2026/09/sydney-airport-unveils-new-electric-bus-fleet/
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Every episode, the full back catalogue and everything we talk about on the show lives in one place. If you only click one link today, make it this one.
Bryan Air
→ https://bryanairpodcast.com/
Support on Patreon
→ https://www.patreon.com/bryanair