African Pilot Newsletter No. 27 - 2011

African Pilot Newsletter 27 2011

Monday 4 July 2011

“You ask me why I do not write something....I think one's feelings waste themselves in words, they ought all to be distilled into actions and into actions which bring results”. Florence Nightingale

African Pilot's website and aviation hub details

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Aviation hub link: http://www.apmag.info/

African Pilot's August edition

Although the deadline for advertising positions closed on Friday 1 July, we will still be in a position to accommodate some further advertising messages up until Wednesday morning. On Friday this week the August edition will be ready for the printers so as to be in the market place well before the end of the month. In addition, I usually take the August edition with me to Air Venture in Oshkosh every year.

Please contact our marketing department: marketing@africanpilot.co.za or 0861 001130.

What is happening this coming week in South African aviation?

There appears to be nothing planned for next weekend, but the following weekend has two important calendar fixtures:

EAA 322 meeting this coming Wednesday 6 July by Gordon Dyne

Chapter 322 members are reminded that this coming Wednesday is our monthly meeting. The venue is as usual The Dickie Fritz MOTH Hall, Dowerglen and the time is 19h00 for 19h30. As you drive through the gates cast your mind back to Dickie and Fritz those two teachers from Jeppe High School who died together in World War ll. Only the brave. They died that we might live.

As usual Captain Karl Jensen will be in the chair as 322's Chairman and I believe from our recent phone call that he has some new risqué jokes which he might tell us. In case I forget, would someone remind Karl to tell us the story of the 'Bus?' Clean and very funny. After we have dispensed with the usual formalities and we have slaked our thirsts we will sit back and listen intently to our guest speaker Peter Lastrucci. Peter is the brother of EAA South Africa's President Paul Lastrucci and is an acknowledged worldwide authority on Aero Engines. Should be a fascinating talk. Peter will be making a big point regarding the use of correct aircraft bolts. Too many home-builders cut corners and use any old bolt. Stupid and dangerous as Peter will no doubt tell us.

Do please join us on Wednesday. One does not have to be a member of 322 to attend. Anyone may join us. However, a passion for aviation would certainly fend off any boredom. You will not be coerced into becoming a member. For more information on EAA 322 please contact Karl Jensen on karlpix@icon.co.za or Karl's right hand lady the effervescent Trixie Heron on editor@afskies.co.za.

Durban Virginia airshow on Saturday 16 July. Our Durban based correspondent, Pete van der Spek will be covering this airshow for African Pilot and it will be first Virginia airshow that I will be missing for many years. For further information please contact John Neilon 082 485 5514 or e-mail: john@eastcoast.net.

EAA taildraggers to Nylstroom Friday 15 to Sunday 17 July

African Pilot's Gauteng based team including Linda, Willie, Deon and I will be covering this event at Nylstroom over the weekend that promises to be of great interest to those owners of vintage and veteran aircraft types. For further details please contact Richard Nicholson 082 490 6227 or e-mail: rgn@pcwireless.co.za.

What happened in aviation this past week?

Interview with the acting CEO of the SA CAA
This past Wednesday I conducted an in-depth follow-up interview with Mr Zakhele Thwala in order to obtain answers to some of the burning issues within South African aviation. The full transcript of this interview will be published in the August edition of African Pilot.

Royal Air Force Officers' Club (RAFOC) lunch last Friday by Gordon Dyne

80 or so members of RAFOC and their guests gathered last Friday for the usual monthly lunch at the Wanderers' Club in Johannesburg - a veritable gathering of aviators past and present. Fighter pilots, bomber pilots, transport pilots, navigators and crews from every theatre of war in which South Africa, England, America, Rhodesia, Australia and every other country in the 'free world' has participated since 1940. I look around during the lunch and can only smile as I recall the marvellous feats of bravery of many of these amazingly humble men. Sadly the years are taking their toll on the numbers. It is such a privilege to mix with such men and to be able to number them amongst my friends.

My day was greatly brightened when who should walk into the room, but Sky News' gorgeous Johannesburg based Emma Hurd. RAFOC's committee had endeavoured to have Emma as a guest speaker for many months, but some crisis in this troubled continent of ours had always called her away. Emma was at our lunch purely as a guest and not as the guest speaker, but it was lovely having her there anyway. Sadly she is leaving South Africa next week after five years and will now be based in Israel. Good luck Emma.

After the usual delicious lunch our guest speaker was Major Kevin 'Cuda' S. Currie. The USAF's Attaché to South Africa.  What a brilliant talk. For 90 minutes this immaculately 'turned out' 35 year old American fighter pilot held our attention as he gave us chapter and verse on his amazing career with the USAF flying primarily the McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F15 Strike Eagle. Accompanied by a superb collection of slides and videos Kevin told tales from his more than 50 missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Some humorous. Some serious. Most deadly. I was reminded of General Norman Schwarzkopf's 'Shock and Awe,' during the First Gulf War.

The technology available to these fighter pilots today is absolutely awesome. Whilst travelling at more than the speed of sound over the deserts of Iraq they can talk to their colleagues in California who are controlling the 'Predators' which are cruising in the air space with them. They can direct a missile through your letter box. Terrorists can run, but they cannot hide. I could go on for pages on the Major's talk, but I had better curb my enthusiasm.

What a career. What a talk. Thank you very much Major Kevin Currie. God bless America.

Amongst RAFOCs members is EAA's Jeremy Woods who is the organiser of the famous 'Flying Legends' Talk Show.' Jeremy spoke to the Major after the lunch and asked him if he would be a guest at a future talk show. The reply was an emphatic “only a pleasure” in that lovely soft American drawl. That talk show will be absolutely tremendous. Look out for more news on the date.

For more information on RAFOC please visit its website www.rafoc.org. Thank you. Our next lunch will be Friday 5 August. Thank you Chairman Bruce Harrison and your hard working committee for another triumphant lunch. We will all miss committee member David Sleeman who returns to England after 43 years in South Africa. Thank you David for all your fine efforts.

Silver Queen Air Rally

On Saturday the SAAF Association staged another fine air rally in which 13 planes took part trying to decipher the cryptic clues that they had been given 20 minutes before take-off. Another brilliant winter's day for flying in the clear blue skies to the west of Pretoria. After a scrumptious lunch the awesome array of prizes were handed out to ALL the participants. A full report with pictures will be published in the August edition of African Pilot.

Baragwanath Fun Rally July 2011 by Callie Eckard
The Fun Rally series finally returned to Baragwanath Airfield after two years. Holding these rallies in various venues introduces the sport to members of those clubs who have not before participated.  Baragwanath is a case in point, where six local club pairs took part in this event, three of them being first-timers.

Bee and Gerhardt provided a delicious breakfast along with bottomless coffee, which was in great demand in near-minus temperatures. Once everyone had warmed up and all ten teams had registered, map preparation began in earnest, under instruction and guidance from veteran rally pilot Frank Eckhard.  Although several of the teams had not flown rallies before and some had not even planned to take part, they all managed to find most of the turn points and even 'newbies' were finding photographs with enthusiasm. First-timers Dominique Van Roey and Leon Bouttell claimed that home-ground advantage enable them to take third place and were very encouraged by their result, so veteran competitors should look out for this competitive pair.

With nerves on edge and pulses racing they all took off by 10h30, flying at speeds varying between 70 and 100 knots, which are nominated by the teams themselves.  By 12h20 all teams had returned, exchanging their experiences with each other and looking forward to seeing how their routes looked once Frank had downloaded their loggers onto his laptop. They also had to fill in answer sheets, which were checked by Cally Eckard. 

Mary de Klerk had planned a lovely easy route, ideal for first-timers to try out the sport, and for veterans to hone their timing skills. The directions took them through ten turn points, down to Vaal Barrage, and then over the old Vanderbijlpark airfield and back home to Baragwanath.  Maps with the turn points and route printed on them were handed to each team, who then had to fill in other details such as bearings and times. 

At each rally some of the Springbok team members are available to give their advice and to encourage new pilots to the sport.  We urge every pilot to try out this sport, to improve their flying and navigation skills, and to enjoy a morning's flying with other pilots.

The results were:

Please join us for the next Fun Rally at Nylstroom (Modimolle) on Saturday 16 July.  This event will be combined with Nylstroom's Taildragger Fly-in and all types of aircraft are welcome to join the rally. Please enter online at http://www.sapfa.org.za/  Costa are R200 per team for SAPFA members and R250 per team for non SAPFA members.

CAA set to tackle corruption with the introduction of a tip-offs hotline

The South African Civil Aviation Authority has introduced a national tip-offs hotline that enables anonymous members of the public and those involved in aviation to report suspected fraud and corruption or unlawful activities that may eventually jeopardise safety and security in aviation.

“Crime in general, fraud, bribery and other related corrupt activities are societal problems that can hamper a country's growth if left unattended. South Africa can never afford to have that sort of drawback through these unlawful activities that are literally eating away at its treasured growth. Moreover, aviation is at the heart of economic growth in this country. If you have people and businesses unwilling to rely on your country's aviation transport system due to suspected weaknesses in its safety and security system, you are literally hampering this very economic growth and also compromising on safety and security,” explained the acting Director of Civil Aviation, Mr Zakhele Thwala.

According to Mr Thwala, the tip-offs hotline is an extension of the SA CAA's good corporate governance practices as well as safety and security monitoring systems. “Since inception, the SA CAA has been outsourcing its internal audit services to external service providers. However the Board resolved to establish an in-house internal audit service. This resulted in the appointment of an Executive Manager Internal Audit in October 2010 who reports to the Board. The implementation of the tip-offs hotline and staffing of this newly established unit speaks to the commitment the organisation has towards ensuring good corporate governance within the Authority. The hotline is one of those systems aimed at ensuring good governance and augments longstanding safety reporting efforts such as the Confidential Aviation Hazard Reporting System (CAHRS),” Mr Thwala elaborated.

He further said that the tip-offs hotline is outsourced and therefore totally independent of the SA CAA. As such it guarantees that all persons reporting suspected corruption will remain anonymous, unless they choose to reveal their identity. The hotline number, which is 0800 997 263, is operated by personnel able to respond to calls in all 11 official languages, 24 hours a day, 365 day per year. “In addition, call centre operators are trained to interview callers, in order to probe for specific facts. This helps in recording as much information as possible and ensuring that the reported cases are understood clearly and therefore can be investigated and concluded without much hassle. We therefore urge the public to be as detailed as possible in order for us to complete investigations,” said Mr Thwala.

Alternatively whistle blowers can use the following methods to report unlawful activities:

Fax: 0800 00 77 88

E-mail: sacaa@tip-offs.com

Postal address: Tip-offs Anonymous

FreePost KZN 138

Umhlanga Rocks

4320

Mr Thwala said that the ultimate goal of the hotline is to eradicate corruption and bribery in the SA CAA and aviation industry in order to ensure reliable aviation transportation of passengers and goods. “Whilst the SA CAA prides itself on its independence, credibility and commitment to conduct its business activities with honesty and integrity; we cannot afford to be blasé in our approach. We are aware that the aviation industry is very competitive. We are also mindful that errors and blatant omissions have fatal consequences in aviation and hence the SA CAA is being proactive in ensuring that there is a platform for everyone to anonymously report dishonest or fraudulent activities by SA CAA employees or any of our stakeholders”.

It is expected that the hotline will receive and deal with issues related to, among others, bribery or abuse of power and disregard for company policies or procedures. “Since its introduction at the beginning of June, the hotline is surprisingly in use already. This authenticates our instinct to be proactive and introduce this type of platform and we hope that the number will increase as the word spreads,” Mr Thwala concluded.

Boeing begins final phase of 787 flight testing

On Monday Boeing started Function & Reliability (F&R) testing and extended operations (ETOPS) demonstrations on the 787 Dreamliner. This is the final phase of flight testing prior to certification of the airplane. “We are ready for this final phase of flight testing,” said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 programme. “The team has created a solid plan for accomplishing the hours and test points required for F&R and ETOPS testing in support of delivery to our customer ANA in the August to September time period.”

F&R testing simulates various normal and non-normal operations for the airplane, in a realistic airline-like flight environment. ETOPS refers to extended operations - for twin jets, flights that are more than 60 minutes away from a suitable landing field. During ETOPS demonstrations the company validates the airplane's ability to safely divert for a variety of reasons, including long diversions with one engine shut down. In addition to F&R and ETOPS testing for the 787 with Rolls-Royce engines, Boeing continues certification testing on 787s with General Electric engines and will conduct a separate F&R/ETOPS test programme for that version of the airplane. Other activities will continue on the flight test fleet to support Boeing objectives including examining potential technologies for the 787-9 and testing engine improvement packages.

Cirrus finalises China deal

Cirrus Aircraft and China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co., Ltd. (CAIGA) announced on Tuesday that the two companies have completed their merger. “This partnership will benefit our business and our customers,” said Brent Wouters, Cirrus CEO. “We share with CAIGA a vision of worldwide growth. CAIGA has the resources that will allow us to expedite our aircraft development programs and accelerate our global expansion.” He said he expects the merger will make it possible for Cirrus to expand its facilities and staff in Minnesota and North Dakota. Dale Klapmeier, Cirrus co-founder, said the completion of the merger was an important milestone in the company's history, and will make it possible for the company to “continue to lead the industry in bringing increased safety, performance and comfort to the general aviation community.”

Bombardier execs dispel LearJet China rumour

Top executives with Bombardier are actively dispelling predictions the company will hive off its struggling LearJet division to Chinese interests and concentrate on its highly profitable line of large-cabin business jets. In an interview with the Montreal Gazette, the newspaper says Bombardier Aerospace President Guy Hachey and Steve Ridolfi, president of the business jet division, both 'swatted away' what it called the 'recurring rumour' that the Wichita operations were on the block. In fact, Ridolfi said he expected expansion at the Wichita plant as the composite LearJet 85 goes into production. “The 85 is the largest and most capable LearJet ever built and it will change the face of LearJet just on that basis,” Ridolfi said. There are about 2,000 employees in Wichita. Meanwhile, fresh from more than $1 billion in bizjet orders from the Paris airshow, Bombardier remains bullish on the future of its most expensive products.

Sj30 owner now SyberJet

The convoluted journey of the SJ30 business jet continues, with the design's latest owners, MT LLC, now announcing they will operate as SyberJet Aircraft. In a brief news release issued earlier this month, the company said it has moved the assembly line that was operated by Emivest Aerospace, the SJ30's previous owner, from Martinsburg, W.Va., to Cedar City, Utah. “SyberJet has a solid operating plan to deliver new SJ30s to the world marketplace,” said Mark Fairchild, SyberJet's general manager, in San Antonio, Texas. “As a pilot, the SJ30 is an exhilarating jet to fly. I look forward to providing more people the unique opportunity to experience the high-performance capability that SJ30 affords its owners and operators.”

Tiger Airways grounding by the Australian CAA

By David Kaminski-Morrow

Tiger Airways Australia's grounding follows its failure to convince the civil aviation regulator that it can conduct safe operations despite having been ordered earlier this year to improve pilot training and proficiency. The decision follows a show-cause notice issued to the low-cost airline in March which ordered it to tighten pilot training and fatigue management, improve maintenance control and reinforce its operational management structure.

These conditions were imposed on the carrier's air operator's certificate and CASA says the airline has been under close examination since. But further events, notably two incidents in June in which Tiger Airbus A320s descended below minimum altitude on approach, have spurred the regulator to take dramatic action. “In the circumstances, CASA no longer has confidence in the ability of Tiger Airways Australia to satisfactorily address the safety issues that have been identified,” it says. The suspension, initially for five working days, effectively grounds Tiger until 9 July but CASA could apply to the Australian federal court to extend the grounding, if necessary, in order to carry out a thorough investigation.

Tiger Airways Australia says it has 'mitigated immediate passenger disruption to the best of our ability' and is focusing on co-operating with CASA to 'achieve a satisfactory outcome to this investigation at the earliest opportunity'. It adds that it has taken internal steps to address specific issues and CASA's wider concerns, stating: “We wish to reassure the Australian public that safety has, and will, underpin our operations at all times.”

The airline is a spin-off from Singapore's Tiger Airways but services to Singapore are unaffected. “We are committed to resolving these issues quickly and resuming our domestic Australian services as soon as possible,” says Tiger.

Aviation humour

According to 'The Australian,' recently an airliner encountered severe vibration in flight. The captain decided to make an emergency landing and switched on the seat belt sign. The vibration stopped immediately. Then a passenger emerged from the front lavatory explaining that he had been jogging in inside.

Until next year, please be 'Serious about flying'.

Athol Franz (Editor)

African Pilot 'Serious about flying'.