South Africans are good at a lot of things... Like winning the rugby! As for flying planes, some would argue "not so much!" Airlink put that one to bed on the 29th of August, when two of their jets crossed the roof of DHL Stadium at the second test against New Zealand, and it's been trending since... Flightradar24 measured them at 41 to 46 feet above a 164-foot roof and 150 knots. The Boks held up their end later that day, beating the All Blacks 33-26!
Mense the world over have been at each other's throats since the event. Airlink responded by pointing at the SACAA's approval, at the simulator rehearsal and at the three senior captains in each cockpit. We're not here to pick a side. Whatever you make of 41 feet, the same question – how much risk, and how much preparation behind it – is one you answer for yourself every time you open the Springbok Casino lobby.
What Airlink Flew Over DHL Stadium - Two Embraers in Formation
What went over the roof, then? Two branded Embraers in formation – the E195 ZS-YDE in black and the E190 ZS-YAE in green. Their lowest reading was 50 feet, which corrects to 205 to 210 feet above sea level on the day's pressure, and taking the stadium's own 164 feet off that leaves 41 feet at its tightest. In aviation terms, that's the distance of a balhaar! Plenty of room – until you remember two airliners were in it at 150 knots.
The Cape Town pass was the second of three. Airlink flew the first over Johannesburg on the twenty-second of August with approval too, and withdrew the third at FNB Stadium on the fifth of September once the review had opened. That's a fortnight from the first pass to the last one called off, and the review followed the Cape Town run alone – Johannesburg had gone by a week earlier without one. Here's the whole run in figures, Bokke:
- The lead jet was an Embraer E195 in the black Rugby's Greatest Rivalry livery – registration ZS-YDE.
- Its wingman was an E190 in Airlink green – registration ZS-YAE.
- The pair crossed the DHL Stadium roof with 41 to 46 feet to spare and at roughly 150 knots.
- Airlink flew Johannesburg on 22 August and withdrew the FNB Stadium flypast on 5 September.
The Sign-Off Behind the Flypast - Simulator Time & Three Captains
Reporters have focused on that margin. Look at how the crews prepared, though, and you're looking at a very different kind of risk. The SACAA gave guidance and approval before either jet moved, and both crews rehearsed in a simulator and sat through safety briefings. Three senior captains flew in each cockpit – as commander, co-pilot and safety officer. Airlink says the recorded data puts both jets inside the approved limits, which is kiff work.
The SACAA then asked for the evidence. Inspectors pulled the flight recorder data off both jets and put further questions to Airlink, so a recommendation is still to come… Airlink flew both passes with that approval already granted, and the review only opened four days after the Cape Town one. Whether it goes their way is anybody's guess! Here at Springbok Casino, we go looking for the sign-off first too, which is where your own lobby check starts.
Where You Set Your Own Risk in the Springbok Casino Lobby
Here's where it comes back to you. We keep ten tabs across the top of our Springbok Casino lobby, and nine of them are game categories – New Games, Popular, Casual Games, Slots, Double Comps, Table Games, Video Poker, Specialty and Progressives.
Every tile opens an info panel before you play a round, and on a slot we give the volatility there, with the lines or ways, the jackpot and every feature. Read it first and you've done your own pre-flight check.
Volatility is the line to read first on a slot, mos, and we publish it as low, medium or high on those tiles alone. Then you set your stake, which starts at five cents on a single-coin video poker hand and reaches R125 on a Kong Fu spin. Neither choice is locked in, since you can move the bet control between rounds and open a different tile any time. Our roulette limits and the practice balance we fix ourselves, so those two you just read off the page, Bokke:
|
What you choose |
Where to find it |
What we publish there |
|
Volatility on a slot |
The tile info panel |
Low, medium or high, slot by slot |
|
Your stake |
The bet control on the game |
R0.05 a video poker hand to R125 a Kong Fu spin |
|
The table floor |
Our European Roulette limits panel |
R1 inside and R1 outside, up to R10,000 |
|
Practice or real rand |
The green Try It! button |
R1,000 in fun balance, or your own bucks |
Practice Mode – Your Simulator Before the First Real Stake
Airlink rehearsed that run in a simulator before flying it, and we offer you something similar that is accessible straight from our Springbok Casino lobby! From slots to our European Roulette, you’ll kick off each game with a FUN BALANCE of R1,000.00, and every reel, paytable and rule matches the real-money version you would play in rand. Yebo yes, that’s us giving you a thousand bucks in monopoly money, trusting you’ll come back as a real Bok! This is how it works:
- Head over to https://springbokcasino.co.za/
- Hit the Log In button, but then cancel it – you’ll still be in the lobby, but not logged in.
- Click on a game and a game tile will open.
- Press the green Try It! button.
- Play the R1,000 fun balance until you feel ready to take over in the cockpit.
“Try It” differs from our “Practice Mode” – but that’s a story for another day!
What does that balance cover, though? It depends entirely on the stake you set. On 3X WOW WHEELS, where a spin costs anything from R0.09 to R45.00, R1,000 covers 11,111 spins… or just 22. On Kong Fu, at R0.25 to R125.00, the same thousand covers 4,000 spins or only eight – a moerse short rehearsal by anybody's standards! You decide how long that balance lasts, so spend it in a way that sustains your required gaming session.
Set Your Own Ceiling - Responsible Play at Springbok Casino
Now the serious bit, Bokke. Everything above is about picking your margin in the Springbok Casino lobby before you commit, and that includes deciding where you'll stop. Our stakes open at five cents, and every coupon figure is stated on our site, so you have the facts.
We start every round when you press the button, so you control the speed. A crew fixes its minimum altitude on the ground, long before anybody takes off, and you set your own ceiling the same way!
If the play stops being a bit of fun and starts feeling like a chase, talk to our support agents. There's no self-exclusion switch in your account, so you ask them and they'll place a hold on your account for a defined period – this is where a bit of friendly human intervention actually helps.
They can also point you at the national gambling support bodies. We'd far rather you took a break and came back to us than pushed on through a rough run… and that's us talking as the house!
Quick Questions on Risk & the Springbok Casino Lobby
That's the flypast and our lobby in one go, Bokke! Here are four short answers before you click your first tile, in the order you'd likely encounter them in the Springbok Casino lobby. They cover how our lobby is laid out, which of our games you can rehearse for mahala, and how small a stake we take at any table or reel in the place. If yours is not among them, ask us rather than guess – our support agents will run you through anything we have left out, at any hour.
Q: Which game tabs are in the Springbok Casino lobby?
A: Ten, with Home at the front. The other nine are the game categories – New Games, Popular, Casual Games, Slots, Double Comps, Table Games, Video Poker, Specialty and Progressives. European Roulette, Keno, Fish Catch and Banana Jones are the Specialty four, and we keep thirteen titles in Table Games, three of which are blackjack.
Q: Can I play a Springbok Casino lobby game in practice mode first?
A: Yes, on every game we publish. Click the tile, press Try It! and choose Practice Mode beside the log-in box. The game opens with R1,000 in fun balance – no deposit and no card details – and the reels, paytables and rules match the real-money version.
Q: Where does the Springbok Casino lobby show how volatile a slot is?
A: On the tile info panel, which opens when you click a game. We publish the volatility of our slots there as low, medium or high, alongside the lines or the ways, the jackpot and the features in that game. It is a slot measure, so we do not publish it under the other tabs.
Q: What is the smallest stake in the Springbok Casino lobby?
A: Five cents on a single-coin video poker hand, nine cents a spin on 3X WOW WHEELS, twenty-five cents on Kong Fu, and R1 on a European Roulette chip or a blackjack hand. Every one of those is quoted in rand, since ZAR is our transacting currency.
Open Our Lobby & Fly Your Own Line at Springbok Casino!
Right, Bokke – open the Springbok Casino lobby, pick a tab and click a tile first. Read the info panel, check the stake range, then take that R1,000 fun balance for a lap, for mahala, so you know the game before your own rand goes near it. Airlink flew its run with the sign-off and the rehearsal behind it… you can set your own margin the same way, and land whenever you like – with no regulator pulling your flight data afterwards!