Letsika Mokoena-Senior First Officer, South African Airways.

I met Letsika by accident at the Living Room in downtown Johannesburg one sunny Sunday afternoon a few years back. When I found out he was a pilot I badgered him for hours that day for stories and experiences of being a pilot..

He has been flying for SAA for fourteen years and in our discussion we track his path as a child watching crop-dusters flying over the township in Bethlehem in the Free State, to sitting in the right-hand set of an Airbus A340-600.

While we he did share few tales from the cockpit, from the stress of his pilot training in Australia to dealing with the odd bird strike, we also discussed more serious issues around the lack of transformation at SAA, and the fact that the uncertain future of the airline might force him to seek greener and more stable pastures abroad.