MIDWEEK UPDATE 17 SEPTEMBER 2014
1 Plan your weekend
2 Forthcoming events
3 AAD 2014, The biggest yet.
4 Beluga celebrates the 20th anniversary of its first flight
5 Pilots' errors caused UPS Flight 1354 crash
6 Boeing Delivers 3rd Peace Eagle Aircraft to Turkey
7 Rate Card
17 -21 September: Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD2014) AFB Waterkloof South Africa. E-mail: info@aadexpo.co.za
25 - 28 September: Cirrus Migration to Namibia CDC Aviation. Contact Deon Wentzel 011 701 3835 or E-mail: sales@cdcaviation.co.za
27 September: Stellenbosch Fly and Braai. For more info phone 021 880 0294 or E-mail accounts@stelfly.co.za
27 September: PASASA TMG fly-in Parys airfield. Contact Marietjie van Niekerk Cell: 082 765 66
4 October: Petit Pilot's Post Classic Aircraft Fly In. Contact Ivan 082 375 9180 or John 079 192 5866
3 - 4 October: Upington airshow CANCELLED Tel: 060 424 5065. Contact Kgomotso Modiragale 083 704 3020 or E-mail: kmodiragale@gmail.com
4 October: SAPFA Grand Central fun rally: www.sapfa.org.za
4 October: SAAF Museum flying training and open days. Contact Capt. Kobus Kapp 012 351 2342 or E-mail: webmaster@saafmuseum.org
17 - 19 October: Pyramid Air Park Aviators Weekend Contact Brian Young Cell: 082 932 9397 or Peter Lea Cell: 082 553 4908 E-mail: plea1949@mweb.co.za
18 October: Parys Time Trials Warbirds through the ages and formation competition. Contact Scully Levin e-mail: flyboys@global.co.za
24 - 25 October: Port Elizabeth airshow. Contact Dr. Crystal Watson or E-mail: cwatson@mweb.co.za
25 - 26 October: SAC KZN aerobatic regionals - Ladysmith. Contact Annie Boon e-mail: change@mweb.co.za
1 November: SAAF Museum flying training and open days. Contact Capt. Kobus Kapp 012 351 2342 or E-mail: webmaster@saafmuseum.org
14 -15 November: Mafikeng fly-in and hangar dance. Contact: Connie Conradie 018 387 1425 or E-mail: info@mafikeng-flyingclub.co.za
22 November: EEA Sun and Fun, SAPFA Fun Rally and Peter Hengst memorial Brits airfield. Contact Mary de Klerk. E-mail: mary@expandingbranding.co.za www.sapfa
6 December: SAAF Museum flying training and open days. Contact Capt. Kobus Kapp 012 351 2342 or E-mail: webmaster@saafmuseum.org
6 - 7 December: SAC ACE of Base Aerobatics - Baragwanath airfield. Contact Annie Boon e-mail: change@mweb.co.za
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Entrance for the first three days are restricted to trade visitors only and on Wednesday the number of uniformed visitors representing a large number of African and other countries were in evident. Initially the halls were quite but as the day progressed the numbers increased. Early morning traffic problems might have added to the slow start.
For more information go to: www.aadexpo.za
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The Beluga is based on the twin-engine A300-600R Photo © Airbus / P.Pigeyre
With its maiden flight on September 13, 1994, the popular Beluga cargo aircraft, affectionately named after the white whale because of its remarkable shape, is celebrating this week twenty years of transporting Airbus component parts between Airbus' European manufacturing sites.
Since 1995, the fleet of five Beluga aircraft replaced the ageing Super Guppy transporters in order to supply the Airbus final assembly lines in Toulouse and Hamburg. Today, more than sixty flights are performed each week between eleven sites, carrying crucial parts for all of the Airbus programmes, including the A380.
The Beluga fleet is operated by Airbus Transport International (ATI), an Airbus subsidiary airline, and each Beluga crew is composed of a pilot, a co-pilot and a flight engineer.
With the production start of the A350 XWB in 2012 and the production ramp-up on other Airbus programmes, the Beluga activities again will substantially increase over the next five years.
In order to accompany this challenge, Airbus launched in 2011 the Fly 10 000 project. Flight crew numbers and flight hours have grown and loading procedures have been further optimized, with the opening of new integrated loading facilities in Hamburg and Bremen in Germany and Saint-Nazaire in France. Broughton, UK and Getafe, Spain will follow soon. Fly 10,000 should allow the Beluga fleet to double its activities by 2017 (from 5,000 to 10,000 flight hours).
“The Beluga is an essential element of Airbus' integrated logistics and production ?system. It is thanks to its reliability and engagement of the Beluga teams that we can fulfil our constant pursuit of efficiency”, said Günter Butschek, Airbus Chief Operating Officer.
The Beluga is based on the twin-engine A300-600R, appreciated for its reliability and its cost-effectiveness. It is powered by General Electric CF6-80C2 engines. With its impressive dimensions (56 m long, 17 m high, a fuselage diameter of 7.71 m and a main-deck cargo volume of 1,400m3), the Beluga is the champion of its category (compared with the Antonov AN-124 or even the C-17). The Beluga can carry a maximum payload of 47 metric tonnes non-stop over a range of 1,660 km/900 nm.
*only the Vertical Tailplane and tailcone, all other A380 components being transported through the “multimodal transport system (sea, river, road).
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The NTSB determined that because the first officer did not properly program the flight management computer, the autopilot was not able to capture and fly the desired flight path onto runway 18. Photo © NTSB
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that UPS flight 1354 crashed because the crew continued an unstabilized approach into Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Birmingham, Ala. In addition, the crew failed to monitor the altitude and inadvertently descended below the minimum descent altitude when the runway was not yet in sight. The board also found that the flight crew's failure to properly configure the on-board flight management computer, the first officer's failure to make required call-outs, the captain's decision to change the approach strategy without communicating his change to the first officer, and flight crew fatigue all contributed to the accident.
The airplane, an Airbus A300-600, crashed in a field short of runway 18 in Birmingham on August 14, 2013, at 4:47 a.m. The captain and first officer, the only people aboard, both lost their lives, and the airplane was destroyed by the impact and a post-crash fire. The flight originated from UPS's hub in Louisville, Ky. "An unstabilized approach is a less safe approach," said NTSB Acting Chairman Christopher A. Hart. "When an approach is unstable, there is no shame in playing it safe by going around and trying again."
The NTSB determined that because the first officer did not properly program the flight management computer, the autopilot was not able to capture and fly the desired flight path onto runway 18. When the flight path was not captured, the captain, without informing the first officer, changed the autopilot mode and descended at a rate that violated UPS's stabilized approach criteria once the airplane descended below 1,000 feet above the airport elevation. As a result of this accident investigation, the NTSB made recommendations to the FAA, UPS, the Independent Pilots Association and Airbus.
The recommendations address safety issues identified in the investigation, including ensuring that operations and training materials include clear language requiring abandoning an unstable approach; the need for recurrent dispatcher training that includes both dispatchers and flight crews; the need for all relevant weather information to be provided to pilots in dispatch and en-route reports; opportunities for improvement in fatigue awareness and management among pilots and operators; the need for increased awareness among pilots and operators of the limitations of terrain awareness and warning systems -- and for procedures to assure safety given these limitations.
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Boeing is scheduled to deliver the fourth aircraft for the program in 2015 Photo © Boeing
Boeing delivered on schedule on Sept. 4 the third Peace Eagle Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft to the Turkish Armed Forces, further increasing the country's self-defense capabilities. The AEW&C aircraft was delivered at Konya Air Base, the fleet's main operating base. Boeing is scheduled to deliver the fourth aircraft for the program in 2015.
In addition to the four aircraft, the Peace Eagle program includes ground support segments for mission crew training, mission support and system maintenance. AEW&C provides advanced airborne surveillance and battle management capabilities and can simultaneously track airborne and maritime targets.
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