Thunder City is an aircraft operating and maintenance company based at the Cape Town International Airport in Cape Town, South Africa. It was well known for owning the largest civilian-owned collection of former military jet aircraft in the world. These aircraft were used to perform in airshows and could also be hired by the general public for novelty flights, including going supersonic and climbing to altitudes around 50,000 feet. Following an incident in which an English Electric Lightning was lost in an airshow crash in which the pilot died, the company ceased flying operations.
The company's other activities include upgrading older models of the Aerospatiale Puma helicopter with modern avionics and renovating airframes and engines.
Read more about Thunder City: Company Structure, Fleet, AAD 2008 Controversy, Lightning Crash 14 November 2009, Suspension of Flight Operations
Famous quotes containing the words thunder and/or city:
“Here’s neither bush nor shrub to bear off any weather at all. And another storm brewing, I hear it sing i’ the wind. Yond same black cloud, yond huge one, looks like a foul bombard that would shed his liquor. If it should thunder as it did before, I know not where to hide my head. Yond same cloud cannot choose but fall by pailfuls.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“When the city gate catches fire, it’s the fish in the moat who suffer.”
—Chinese proverb.