Other Airlines
Maxie Kroeze
Maxie Kroeze was Sun Air's first female pilot, having joined in 1995. A qualified chartered accountant, she learnt to fly in Tzaneen when she was the 24-year-old financial manager at Dorbyl. Maxie earned her private pilot's licence in three weeks and passed her commercial pilot's exam in her first attempt.
Margaret Parr
Margaret Parr is a captain with British Airways Comair. Her father’s career started in the Royal Air Force during WWII, and he continued in the aviation field, and flew as a Private Pilot. After school, Margaret went to university to do a B.A. but later left to go to secretarial college. She started working for National Airways Corporation at Lanseria in 1987.
In 1988 she started flying lessons, and nine months later she earned her private pilot’s licence – flying lessons cost R100 per hour back then! In 1990 she was accepted by SAA on their very first cadet programme, and went on to qualify for her Commercial Pilots Licence.
Her first flying job was with National Airlines, (a division of National Airways Corporation), flying a scheduled operation to Upington, Springbok and other Northern Cape towns. In 1993 she passed her Airline Transport Pilot Licence.
In 1996 she joined Comair, flying the ATR42 aircraft on local routes such as Skukuza and Gaborone. In 1997 she was offered the opportunity to fly the Boeing 727-200, and in 2000 she became Comair’s first female Captain. At present she is flying the Boeing 737-300, -400 and -800, and holds the position of Check Captain. She is married to Willem Viljoen, who is a Director of Photography, and also holds a Private Pilots Licence.
Aloma Stevens
SA Express pilots Aloma Stevens and Karen Croucamp (maiden name Smith) were the first female pilots to fly both turbo-prop and jet passenger aircraft with an all-female crew. In June 1995, they flew from Johannesburg to Kimberley for SA Express. On 10th June 1998, they flew from Walvis Bay to Johannesburg with Anelize van Jaarsveld and Tumi Mocume as cabin attendants. Aloma has over 10,000 flying hours and began her flying career as a cabin attendant. She then did bush flying in Botswana, followed by flying for a mining company before joining SA Express.