Working on Fire's water "Camels" arrive

Three Dromaders (Camel) have arrived at FASH (Stellenbosch) to do standby for aerial fire fighting operations during the Western Cape's fire season. The fleet of Dromaders will be assisted in fire fighting operations by Working on Fire's Cessna "Spotter 1" that arrived at Stellenbosch airfield earlier last week.

Dromaders are also successfully utilized in Australia for aerial fire fighting.

The restoration project of Vampire 241 (SAAF) came to conclusion during the unveiling ceremony of this Vampire Mk FB 52 at Stellenbosch airfield (FASH) this afternoon.

The Vampire has been meticulously restored to pristine condition by a team of volunteers and will remain on static display in front of the training centre.

This aircraft type was the first operational jet to be flown by the SAAF, Sabres flown in Korea where on loan to the SAAF from the USAF.

Harvard 7059 "Nellie" arrives at FASH

No 7059 or "Nellie" of the Harvard Club of South Africa arrived at FASH yesterday.

She's painted in blue, white and gold SAAF 75 anniversary paint scheme and also carries the SAAF 80 logo on the tail. Harvard 7059 is named after the wife of Gen James Kriel which was CAF at the time.

The Harvards where first delivered to the SAAF in late 1943. The standard SAAF colour scheme was silver all over; with day-glo orange bands on the nose cowling, tail section, and wings - contrasted by dark sea grey upper wing surfaces.

She will be operated from FASH (Stellenbosch airfield) on behalf of the Harvard Club of South Africa.

NAC premiers the Diamond DA-42 Twin Star at AAD 2006

NAC premiered the Diamond DA-42 Twin Star (ZS-DIA) at AAD 2006.

She's a diesel powered four seater carbonfibre twin. The cockpit is equipped with the Garmin 1000 avionics system sporting two colour 38" TFT screens

She is available with two engine options. Either two Thielert Centurion 1.7 turbodiesel engines that are able to run on diesel or Jet A1 fuel; or two Lycoming IO-360-M1A injection engines.

She has an endurance of 18 hours with a range of 1500 nm at a 50% power setting.

Having the ability to operate between 65 kts to 152 kts (IAS) she's an economical solution for airborne surveillance sensors.

Pilots dedicate flight in rememberance of Martin Van Straaten

Yesterday a fatal accident involving a civilian display aircraft occured at AAD 2006. The aircraft, a L-29 Delfin jet trainer, was one of three flown the Sasol Tigers display team.

The aircraft crashed into Table Bay at about 15.50 yesterday afternoon just after completing a 7 ship formation fly-past over FAYP.

Martin Van Straaten was rembered at AAD 2006 by his fellow aviators today as arial displays and two missing man formations where flown in his memory.

His family have been notified and SACAA will conclude an investigation into the tragic crash.

SOUTH AFRICA’S GRIPEN FIGHTER MAKES ITS PUBLIC DEBUT

19 September 2006

South Africa’s first Gripen new generation fighter aircraft made its public debut today, on the eve of the African Aerospace & Defence (AAD) 2006 exhibition being held at Air Force Base Ysterplaat in Cape Town this week.

This two-seat version of the Gripen fighter aircraft (SA01), wearing South African Air Force (SAAF) livery and bearing the South African flag, arrived in South Africa in July 2006, and has been based at the Test Flight Development Centre (TFDC) near Bredasdorp in the Southern Cape, where it has been prepared for a thorough and intensive South African flight test programme.

A team of technical experts from Gripen’s manufacturer, Saab, has been seconded from Sweden to TFDC for two years, to work alongside their South African counterparts from the SAAF, Armscor and Denel on the flight test programme. When completed, this programme will lead directly to the delivery of the first Gripen to South Africa in early 2008.

“We are delighted to celebrate AAD 2006 in Cape Town this year. Saab, in agreement with South Africa’s Department of Defence, agreed to temporarily release this aircraft from its intensive TFDC flight test programme, so that it can appear at the show. We appreciate the keen interest that South Africans continue to express in the Gripen programme and we are responding to this by enabling South Africans to see the country’s future fighter close up for the very first time,” explained Gripen International Managing Director, Johan Lehander.

In 1999, South Africa signed a US$2,2-billion contract with Saab-BAE Systems to supply a fleet of Gripen new generation fighters and Hawk lead-in fighter trainers, as part of the Strategic Defence Procurement programme. This will result in the modernisation of the SAAF’s fighter fleet, while ensuring the SAAF is able to fulfill all of its national, regional defence and peace-support duties.
Arising from this procurement contract, Saab-BAE Systems are also delivering new economic benefits to South Africa, through reciprocal Industrial Participation offset ventures in a wide array of industrial sectors. This includes the production of major Gripen aircraft components and sub-assemblies by various South African companies, including Denel, Avitronics and Comau-AIMS.
To date, Saab-BAE Systems have implemented more than 70 offset projects in more than 40 sectors such as gold and platinum beneficiation, automotive component manufacturing, timber product exports, tourism development, bio-technology, medical research, commercial marine engineering and ship repair, power-generation components, mining equipment manufacture and wine exports. These account for over US$600 million of new investments in local businesses and are on track to yield over US$3billion of new revenues by 2011.

Gripen test pilot Magnus Olsson, from the South African Gripen Flight Test Team, based at Bredasdorp, will take to the skies over Cape Town in Gripen SA01 on the Press Day, the opening day and the public days of the AAD show.

Although it will be flying at AAD, this particular Gripen will not be performing any aerobatic manoeuvres as it has been equipped with special flight test instrumentation, which is being used to validate equipment and systems specific to South Africa’s customised version of the aircraft. AAD visitors will also be able to enjoy a close-up inspection of the aircraft, as it will be featured in the AAD static display on each day of the show.

In addition to this, and for the first time at AAD, the Gripen team will be demonstrating its Full-Scale Replica (FSR) of the Gripen fighter. This FSR, which is always a major attraction at the world’s largest air shows, enables VIP’s, pilots, ground crew, the media and the general public to get a first-hand feel of what South Africa’s future fighter pilots will experience when they get up close and personal with the Gripen fighter….something not to miss!

Visitors to the Gripen exhibition will also be able to talk to the pilots and other members of the Gripen team, to find out more about what it takes to design, build and fly the world’s first new generation aircraft in operational service.

Stephen Laufer
Public Affairs and Communications for
Saab South Africa
+ 27 83 444 2739
slaufer@laufer-tsi.co.za

AAD exhibition 2006 Ysterplaat

Africa’s largest aerospace, defence, and security exhibition will be held in Cape Town this year.

Africa Aerospace & Defence – AAD 2006 – will be held in Cape Town from 20-24 September.

AAD will feature more than 400 exhibitors from at least 25 countries.

Air Force Base Ysterplaat ( just East of Cape Town CBD ) will be hosting this event.

Media release here:

http://www.aadexpo.co.za/downloads/AAD-Media-Launch-Announcement.pdf