Thirty dedicated years and beyond
Chief Corporate Pilot of Eros Air, Uwe Herbert recently received his long service award for 30 years of service at Eros Air.
Managing Director of Eros Air, Sonja Bartsch, said, “this week is all about 25 years of Namibian Independence, something that we can be extremely proud of. In light of celebrating successes and achievements in Namibia this week, O&L also celebrates success stories and being an employer of choice for many locals. Uwe, one such Namibian, is one of our long standing, loyal and dedicated employees. We thank Uwe for his 30 years dedicated service and look forward to many more.” When looking back at the last 30 years, Uwe recalls numerous occasions on which he flew founding Father, Dr. Sam Nujoma; the late Werner List; incoming President, Dr. Hage Geingob; as well as Hollywood star, Angelina Jolie. He also recollects an occasion in which he flew two Presidents, Dr. Sam Nujoma and Dr. Quett Masire (Botswana) together with the respective First Ladies. “This was memorable in that it placed a big responsibility on me”, Uwe said. Uwe has also flown many medical evacuation flights all over Southern Africa, mostly at night and sometimes in adverse weather conditions. “I recall three Medevac flights on different dates to Kamina Airbase in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for the Namibia Defense Force (NDF), which was involved in fighting the rebels that were trying to overthrow the government of President Joseph Kabila,” he said. “The first two flights were during the night in adverse weather conditions with thunderstorms and driving rain. To complicate matters, a Ukrainian Cargo aircraft was also attempting to land at Kamina Airbase at the same time. No moon, black night, no height perception, no horizon visible, no lights visible from the town, except the runway lights of Kamina Airbase, torrents of rain, no radar control, a big cargo aircraft somewhere in the vicinity doing three attempts to land and overshooting every time, eventually returning to Kinshasa without landing, in other words, a pilot’s nightmare!” he reminisced. Eros Air (Pty) Ltd was founded in 1955 and was mainly operated in the ‘Industrial Aid’ category at that time. Today, Eros Air can be chartered though a charter company for flights within Namibia as well as other African countries.
