The Aeronautical Society of South Africa (a division of the Royal Aeronautical Society) has elected CSIR’s Marié Botha, president for this term.

The Aeronautical Society of South Africa (AeSSA) is a fully-fledged Division of the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS). Its membership comprises aerospace professionals, corporate company members, and enthusiastic aviation amateurs.

In the capacity of her appointment as the president of Aeronautical society, her objective is to ensure that the key activities of the society continue to run smoothly on the strong basis laid by her predecessors.

“It is a great honor and a privilege to be appointed for this term.  It is humbling that people in the industry, trust you to really give direction to the society. This is a platform where you can really express yourself and your passion for the industry. So, it really is quite nice to know that your peers believe in your vision for what we can do for the society”.

The AeSSA hosts and facilitates monthly lectures, either in Gauteng or in the Western Cape, on a range of topics relevant to the local aerospace community. Through industry contact and partnerships, local and international presenters are invited, and venues are chosen to enhance the experience for participants.

“What we’re doing this term around is to have the same working groups as the Royal Aeronautical Society, based in the UK, for us to actively link in with the operations of the RAes. In that way we will be able to bring the international community a lot closer to the South African membership base. That’s the big drive for me this year, to get us actively linked and involved with the Royal Aeronautical Society and mirror their operations and they’re working groups as an example”.

The work has started, the society is now linking young professionals’ network with the UK, RAes young professionals. Network, so they can get international exposure. The local AeSSA Young Professionals network further gives back to STEM outreach by partnering with the Sakhikamva Foundation.

The society is planning to host a hybrid Annual Aeronautical Society conference this year (2022). This will be the first in person conference since October 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic regulations. The conference and the monthly lecturers are utilised as a platform to actively engage students as well as retired professionals to actively contribute and give back to the industry.

The Council for Science and Industrial Research (CSIR) I well represented on the Aeronautical Society of South Africa’s council, with the recent appointment of Erik Wegman. He is the senior researcher within the CSIR’s Manufacturing Cluster. He joins fellow CSIR collagues Kevin Jamison and Gary Coderley to serve on the council.

For more information visit, https://www.aessa.org.za