21st May, 2010
A Nigerian aspiring commercial pilot was yesterday found guilty by the Port Elizabeth Magistrateâ€
Soponuchi Amadi, 23, whose address was given as William Road, Edenvale, Gauteng, pleaded guilty to violating Civil Aviation Authority rules.
Amadi was fined R10000 or three monthsâ€
Amadi was registered as a student at the Johannesburg School of Flying with the purpose of obtaining his commercial pilotâ€
He holds a private pilot licence issued by the SA Civil Aviation Authority.
On April 19 he was admitted to write his examination in navigation at Port Elizabethâ€
However, instead of writing the exam himself, he hired a Malawian, Nedson Likhunya, who flew from Gauteng to Port Elizabeth to sit the exam on his behalf.
Likhunya, 38, a private tutor in civil aviation, was arrested in the examination room. He faces a charge of fraud for violating the Civil Aviation Authority Act.
While Amadi was being sentenced in District Court 23, Likhunya appeared briefly in the Port Elizabeth bail court. The case was postponed to June.
Magistrate Johan Herselman emphasised the seriousness of the offence in the light of a spate of plane crashes in recent months.