|
â€Å“Instrument flying is when your mind gets a grip on the fact that there is vision beyond sight .â€Â - U.S. Navy 'Approach' magazine circa W.W.II.
African Pilot weekly newsletters
Having achieved â€Ëœinstitutional status' within the aviation industry in South Africa and indeed throughout the world, African Pilot weekly Newsletters are intended to fill that important gap between monthly magazines, promote the business of African Pilot and provide some entertainment to our readers. This is a free service where individuals simply request the AP newsletter by means of a subscription. As the year end draws near, this is also a time for our team to take a rest and enjoy the holidays of the â€Ëœsilly season'. Consequently this will be the final AP newsletter for 2006, with the next AP Newsletter expected on Monday 8 th January 2007. African Pilot's offices will officially close on Thursday 21 st December and re-open on Wednesday 3 rd January 2007.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our readers, advertisers and associates for the loyalty you have displayed towards African Pilot over the past year. 2006 has been an extraordinary year of growth and commitment within the business of southern African aviation from the African Pilot team, who have endured many challenging moments due to reasons beyond their individual calling. On a personal level, I would like to publicly thank every member of the African Pilot team for their outstanding work which has made African Pilot Magazine the best aviation magazine in Africa .
Next year our team will be capitalising on the growth of 2006 to unpack several new innovations in magazine publishing all of which will greatly benefit the aviation market in southern Africa . Levels of service to customers not ever seen before in this business will be launched early in the year and we will continue to strive to produce the highest quality aviation magazine in this region.
AP 2006 newsletter statistics
During the past year we produced 50 AP newsletters on a regular basis, even when I was out of the country on business or when the magazine was on deadline. All AP newsletters are archived on the African Pilot Website: www.africanpilot.co.za . The AP newsletter has been produced almost the inception of the magazine five years ago. The total number of words in this year's African Pilot newsletters is 182 892 or an average of 3 658 words per AP newsletter.
Publication planning for next year
Advertisers are reminded that due to the holiday season and the fact that most business enterprises close down fully or partially at this time of the year, African Pilot's February edition will be prepared during the first week of January 2007. It is therefore important to confirm your placements before the end of this week because we also close down for a short time. Please contact Travis at (011) 702 2342/3 or our new dedicated marketing cell phone: 078 471 3010 or e-mail: marketing@africanpilot.co.za Thank you.
African Pilot's Aviation Service Guide
Now that our January 2007 edition is printing, our full concentration will be applied to the AP Service Guide this week. The Service Guide will be distributed together with our February 2007 edition, but we would like to have the document as complete as possible before shut down this year. Please visit our Website : www.africanpilot.co.za and click on â€ËœService Guide' for further information on how this annual document works.
Comair scoops six ACSA awards
Comair Limited (Comair) has done it again! The company scooped two more awards at the annual ACSA Feather Awards at a ceremony in Cape Town last week. Comair's two brands both received accolades with British Airways receiving the Best Full Service Domestic Airline award and kulula.com winning the Best Low Cost Airline award.
The company's brands also received the same awards at the Durban Airport awards ceremony held last week. At the Port Elizabeth awards Lindie van Loggerenberg, Comair's airport manager walked away with the Service Provider of the Year â€â€œ Airport Manager's award. At the same ceremony the Employee of the Year Award was won by Diana Esterhuizen, a senior customer service agent at Comair who has on several occasions within the past year uncovered and reported airport crime syndicates.
Bert van der Linden Comair's very proud Service Delivery Director said, â€Å“These awards are the result of great team effort. Our entire team is committed to making Comair the leading customer service company in South Africa , and everyone deserves a huge pat on the back for these achievements.â€Â
Focus for 2006 is on Aviation Safety and Security
Celebrations for the International Civil Aviation Day took take place at Mafikeng Airport on Thursday, 7 December 2006 at Mafikeng Airport , North West Province. International Civil Aviation Day (ICAD) is an event initiated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which is celebrated all over the world to promote civil aviation among the general public. In terms of a resolution passed by ICAO, the 7th of December each year has been declared International Civil Aviation Day. The purpose of this annual celebration is to establish and reinforce worldwide awareness of the importance of international civil aviation in the social and economic development of States. For the past few years South Africa has been an active participant in this worthy event, and will continue to do so in the years to come. It is part of a government strategy to rotate the venue so that all provinces are afforded an opportunity to host the event, and the North West Provincial Government volunteered to host the 2006 event.
Not only did this year's event put North West Province on the map but it also assisted in promoting and marketing Mafikeng Airport , which is currently under-utilized, despite having state of the art facilities and the 6 th longest runway in the world. However, Mr Rickie Rennie, the Manager of Mafikeng Airport, says the provincial government's plan for the airport is to optimise its usage, and it is events like these that will assist in putting the airport on the map. The Mafikeng Airport hosted a highly successful air show in October this year, which was voted the 3 rd best air show in Southern Africa by Air Show South Africa (ASSA). â€Å“This is an indication that our airport is one of the best, but we need to get more people to use itâ€Â, says Mr Rennie.
The event was organised by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), in conjunction with the Department of Transport, the North West Provincial Government, Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS), the South African Airways (SAA), South African Air Force (SAAF) as well as the Aero Club of South Africa. Both the Minister of Transport Mr Jeff Hadebe and the North West Premier Ms Edna Molewa attended the event. The theme for ICAD 2006 was:
â€Å“Safety and Security â€â€œ first and always the top priority.â€Â
This is the theme that the Council of ICAO has approved as the theme for this year's worldwide celebrations of ICAD on 7 December 2006 and throughout the year 2007. The theme comes at the right time when the continent's state of aviation safety and security is being questioned. It therefore provides an excellent opportunity for all the relevant stakeholders involved in civil aviation in SA to inform the flying public about what they are doing to raise and improve the levels of safety and security. The CAA, ACSA and ATNS all have plans in place to enhance the levels of aviation safety and security in South Africa . Although there are a number of agencies and organizations looking at improving aviation safety in this country, the overall responsibility for aviation safety and security oversight in South Africa lies with the South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Mr Zakes Myeza, the Chief Executive Officer of the CAA, says â€Å“aviation safety and security remains an important priority for all of us. With 2010 also approaching very fast, we need to assure South Africans, and the rest of the world, that South Africa will be able to deliver a safe aviation environment during that crucial FIFA Soccer World Cup event. We have to assure the world that we are ready to handle the anticipated increase in aviation activity effectively and efficiently, without compromising safety and securityâ€Â. Mr Myeza says the CAA is working very closely with the aviation industry to enhance safety in the country, as well as to encourage voluntary compliance.
Cost of hiring a plane for the deputy President's flight
The Defence Minister, Mosiuoa Lekota issued a statement to the media about this incident and at the same time confirmed that his ministry is solely responsible for the air transport of the Presidency. The Minister has appointed a board of inquiry, chaired by someone outside his department, preferably a senior advocate, to look into the circumstances surrounding the exorbitant cost of this flight. Apparently someone within the Department of Defence hired a plane at a cost of R4.55 million without authorisation by either the Ministry, the Secretary for Defence or the Acting Chief of the SA National Defence Force.
He emphasised that the Presidency had no culpability in the hiring of the plane. â€Å“Therefore any attempt to suggest that either the staff of the Presidency or the Deputy President herself is to blame must be rejected with the contempt it deserved.â€Â He said. He further welcomed the whistle blowing by members of the media saying that had this not happened, he probably would not have known about the cost which is â€Å“irregular and way out of proportion with reasonable standardsâ€Â Minister Lekota concluded.
Comment: Well, well. Me thinks there is a â€Ëœcover-up' and someone's head is going to roll for wasting government money!
Brazil allowing US pilots to return home
Two U.S. pilots who have been held in Rio de Janeiro since a fatal midair collision in September will be allowed to go home, a Brazilian court said on Tuesday. The pilots -- Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino , both of New York -- will have their passports returned to them and can leave the country in 72 hours, after being further debriefed by police, the court said. The two must agree to return to Brazil for any further inquiry and judicial action. "Restricting the freedom of movement for foreigners is not backed by the domestic legal system," the court's statement said, according to Reuters. Brazil is still investigating the crash, which was the worst in the country's history.
NTSB is investigating first FRAX Cirrus accident
The NTSB has finished its on-scene investigation of a Cirrus SR22 that crashed Thursday night while on approach to Runway 18R at Charlotte Douglas International Airport . Killed in the crash of N665CD was George Vrana, the sole-occupant pilot and a partner with accounting firm Ernst & Young. Notably, the event marks the first accident at AirShares Elite, which managed the airplane under its fractional program. According to the NTSB, the Cirrus's recovery parachute and rocket separated from the aircraft, most likely during the impact sequence, yielding no early clue as to whether the pilot tried to deploy the emergency system before the single-engine airplane crashed seven miles from the airport. The Safety Board has examined the airplane's engine and is still interviewing witnesses and gathering ATC communications and radar data. A preliminary report is expected to be issued later this week.
Helicopter departs for flight across north and south poles
Two helicopter pilots, Jennifer Murray and Colin Bodill, took off from Fort Worth , Texas , on Tuesday on the first leg of a flight that will take them to both the North and South Poles. If they succeed, it will be a first. The two will fly their Bell 407 helicopter through 34 countries and cover more than 36,000 miles in about six months. From Texas , they will head south to Mexico and South America , and are scheduled to reach the South Pole on Jan. 9. They head back across South America and along the U.S. West Coast to Alaska and Canada , reaching the North Pole on April 13. They plan to return via Russia , Europe and across the North Atlantic, reaching Fort Worth on May 23. You can follow their flight at their Website: www. polarfirst.com . The same team attempted a similar flight in 2003, but crashed in Antarctica .
Comair's comment on SAA travel agent kick-backs
Comair says that South African Airways (SAA) is still offering travel agents incentives in exchange for selling more of the airlines tickets, at the expense of others. Stuart Cochrane, Comair's spokesperson, said that it didn't know what the incentives are, but that because it worked within the same environment, it knew what its competitor were up to.
Comair had earlier lodged a complaint with the Competition Commission alleging that SAA is a dominant firm in the market for domestic airline travel and that it uses this dominance to engage in exclusionary practices in contravention of the Competition Act. The commission found in favour of Comair and SAA was subsequently fined millions for its anticompetitive behaviour. In addition to that, Nationwide Airlines plans to sue SAA for its anti-competitive behaviour to the tune of some R269.5m. Comair says that it is talking to its lawyers about suing SAA for R500m.
In response to Moneyweb's questions, SAA spokesperson Jacqui O'Sullivan said that the airline's current override agreements comply fully with the requirements of the competition commission. â€Å“SAA isâ€Â¦not prohibited from having agreements with travel agents. All contracts with our travel agents were revised much earlier this year to ensure compliance. It is also important to note that SAA had already submitted its compliance programme to the commission in September of this year,â€Â she said.
The Competition Tribunal confirmed the consent agreement between the commission and SAA today. The agreement says that the SAA's future agreements with travel agents will not contain certain features in respect of incentive payments. It also states that the airline is not party to any agreement, which contains any of these features at present. SAA has agreed to pay an administrative penalty of R15m.
Nationwide and Comair had challenged the validity of the consent order arguing that amongst other things, it did not contain an admission of liability. The tribunal found that there is no judicial prerequisite that a consent order must contain an admission of liability by the respondent.
Nationwide and Comair also challenged the adequacy of the amount of the penalty. The tribunal accepted the commission's reasons for considering both the tribunal's previous case in which it fined SAA R45m and this complaint referral as one for the purpose of arriving at an overall fine. SAA's total liability amounts to R100m including fines for price fixing.
More on the Airbus A380 visit - Linden Birns - PR for Airbus, southern Africa
Dear Editor
I read with concern, Adrian Higgins' letter regarding the Airbus A380, which you included in your latest e-mail newsletter. Â Please allow me to shed some light on the circumstances surrounding the A380's visit.
First of all, on behalf of the entire Airbus team, a very big thank you to Adrian and every one of the thousands of people who turned out on Sunday 26 November to see the A380 at O.R. Tambo International Airport . Â Like you, we were very excited at the prospect of being able to bring the aircraft to South Africa . Â We would have liked to have kept it here for a few days longer, but there was a very strict pre-type certification programme that was being followed and we had to ensure that the aircraft stayed within or ahead of its schedule.
Bearing in mind that the aircraft was primarily here as part of a Test Flight mission â€â€œ which gave us the secondary opportunity of showing it to airlines, ACSA, ATNS, industry and Govt - the decision regarding where to park the aircraft was determined with the intention to provide maximum public visibility within two very simple operational constraints:
- The aircraft may only park on an apron with a certificated pavement loading capacity. Â At present , there are only three such areas at O.R. Tambo Int'l which carry such certification. Â They are the Echo Apron, SAA Technical's Jet run-up bay and the SAA Technical apron outside Hangar 7.
- The availability of ground support equipment, ground power and ease of access for the Airbus Technical Support Team. Â Because the airport is not yet hosting scheduled A380 operations, it has not been necessary for any of the Ground Handling service providers to purchase any dedicated A380 equipment. Â With the A380 only due to enter commercial service in 10 months time, it does not make business sense to buy these assets only to have them sitting idle. Â Echo Apron is not yet equipped with installed ground power (this would have meant parking the aircraft with its APU running the entire time).
In evaluating these options, it was clear that the Jet run-up bay was unsuitable as it would have hidden the aircraft. Â Similarly Echo 3, where the aircraft was refuelled on Sunday night and where it performed compatibility trials with the new air bridges, is obscured from the viewing decks in the International and Domestic Terminals. Â The most visible parking position was the hard stand outside Hangar 7 at SAA Technical. Â This was in full view of the Domestic Terminal (departures, arrivals and from the Keg & Aviator Pub). Â Knowing that there was limited viewing opportunity from the spectator decks in the terminal buildings, in all the radio and press interviews we conducted, we made a point of suggesting alternative vantage positions to enthusiasts, including the sports fields at Bonaero Park , the East Rand Mall and surrounds. Â Â More than that was beyond our ability or control.
Regarding ACSA and the SAPS; ACSA (and also ATNS, the SACAA and Dept of Transport) went out of its way to accommodate Airbus and the A380 team. Â Agreed, the logistics regarding security were frustrating and seemingly chaotic (and were not helped by the fact that one of the two x-ray machines at the security check-point broke down and that the busses deployed to transport the media were equipped with speed governors set at 30km/h!), but we have to put this into perspective: Â
O.R. Tambo International is a major airport.  Its security procedures have been the subject of heated debate and scrutiny, following several high-profile crimes that were committed on its premises.  Among those who have placed ACSA's security under its magnifying glass is the news media, acting, so it says, in the public's interest.   As historic and significant the A380's visit was , it would have been unrealistic to expect â€â€œ although we did ask - security measures to be relaxed with simply to satisfy curiosity with a novel arrival.  This is why we spent many long hours, with the SACAA's guidance, working with the SAPS, ACSA and SAA Technical to find a suitable security protocol that would enable us to take the news media onto the airfield and close up to the aircraft, without compromising overall security at the airport.   Yes, the security system could have been slicker and managed with more efficiency so that we need not have sweated blood and tears (and in my case, to have lost my voice, several kilos of body weight and even more of my hair!), but at the end of the day, we all got to witness the historic landing and subsequent auto landing tests from very close quarters â€â€œ even closer than the media are afforded at Farnborough or Le Bourget.
To anyone who felt short-changed or aggrieved, we are sincerely sorry. Â Be assured, lessons have been learned. Â We remain grateful for your enthusiasm, keen interest and support.
Very best Festive Season wishes,
Aviation Humour from Thomas Heymans
The plane's entrance opens, two men dressed in Pilots' uniforms walk up the aisle. Both are wearing dark glasses, one is using a guide dog, and the other is tapping his way along the aisle with a cane. Nervous laughter spreads through the cabin, but the men enter the cockpit, the door closes, and the engines start up. The passengers begin glancing nervously around, searching for some sign that this is just a little practical joke. None is forthcoming. The plane moves faster and faster down the runway, and the people sitting in the window seats realize they're headed straight for the water at the edge of the airport territory. As it begins to look as though the plane will plough into the water, panicked screams fill the cabin. At that moment, the plane lifts smoothly into the air. The passengers relax and laugh a little sheepishly, and soon all retreat into their magazines, secure in the knowledge that the plane is in good hands. In the cockpit, one of the blind pilots turns to the other and says, "You know, Bob, one of these
days, they're gonna scream too late and we're all gonna die."
African Pilot weekly newsletters
Should you happen to miss out on an African Pilot newsletter please visit our Website: www.africanpilot.co.za , and click on the Newsletters icon on the front page because all AP newsletters are archived on the Website.
In the spirit of the season
To all our readers, the African Pilot team wishes you a safe Christmas and New Year holiday season. Please fly carefully and more important, take care on our roads that are utilised by many dangerous drivers who appear to be intent on killing themselves as well as other innocent travellers. God bless you all. |
