Pinelands teen’s Bok design takes flight

The Springboks have been flown around the country on their Rugby World Cup victory tour in an aircraft sporting the design of 18-year-old Pinelands High matric pupil Taariq Hendricks.

FlySafair, the official domestic carrier of the national rugby team, has used Taariq’s design, featuring a springbok and green and gold stripes, on the fuselage of the plane that has ferried the Boks to several South African cities to show off the Webb Ellis Cup.

Taariq, who harbours a passion for both graphic design and aviation, says he was first drawn to the challenge when the airline posted a YouTube video during the 2019 World Cup, asking “Does green and gold clash with our colours?” He started working on the design in 2021 when he was 16.

“For this design, I used the existing FlySafair livery outline as a guideline and worked on keeping the same theme that they have on all their aircraft but playing around with the colours,” he said.

Taariq uploaded his design to the South African aviation enthusiasts’ website, AvCom, last April.

“A few days later, I was contacted by the airline letting me know that the design was seen by the CEO of the company and they were asking if it would be possible to use the design for the new Springbok livery.”

FlySafair brand strategist Natasha Kotze said they had first seen Taariq’s design last year but had not been ready then to rebrand their aircraft. That changed in July this year when the company was planning its Springbok promotional campaign and took another look at Taariq’s design.

“We launched the green and gold livery at the beginning of September, three days before the Boks played their first World Cup match.”

Ms Kotze said it had been thrilling for the company to finally apply the new design to its aircraft after Taariq had come up with it more than a year earlier.

“We love Taariq’s enthusiasm for aviation and that, at 16 years of age, he took the time to come up with a design,” she said.

They sought Taariq’s permission for the use of the design which he gladly gave.

Taariq is working on getting his private pilot licence through the Cape Town Flight Training Centre.

“I’ve always wanted to be involved in aviation, and I’ve always dreamt about becoming a pilot,” he said. “My dream is to one day fly a commercial aircraft for a reputable airline. If, for whatever reason, I would not be able to fly, I have a strong interest in computer programming and that would be a second career path. However I would love to work in systems design in aviation.”