CTFC enews 24 November
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A Thanks
Sean's adventures
A380
From the other side
Humour

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Dates to Diarise

26 November: A380 arrives at FAJS
28th November: Nav course starts at CTFC. If you wish to attend, contact the club.
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Thanks for the Honorary Life Time Membership --> Jim Deane

It was with a rush if emotion and the start of moisture in the eye that I was summoned by Rafi and Alexia to receive an Honorary Life Membership at the End Function.

I would just like to thank everyone who has played a part in the running of both the original clubs and the sterling effort that has been performed by the new Committee in getting the new, amalgamated club off the ground.

I wish everyone the very best in the endeavours of the new club and I hope I will still be able to make a little bit of a difference in my new role as a Trustee.

Again, many thanks to everyone for all your support.

Jim Deane
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Greetings from Sean --> Sean O'Connor

Ex-Capetonians, Shelly, Dylan and Michaela Kemlo invited me to a relaxing afternoon braai at their sprawling home not far from ORTIA (Ollie Tambo Int airport – formerly Jhb Int). They are doing great up here. Dylan is the head instructor at the Air Traffic Control training facility at ORTIA and Shelly is establishing herself as an entrepreneur in unexplored niches of aviation business. Ellie Miller, ex-Cape Aero Club instructor was there too. She has been flying on contract in Africa and is now flying the Dash 8 for SA Express. We had a great afternoon at the Kemlo home!

More evidence that there’s a conspiracy by CT people to take over SA Aviation is the fact that I am flying with Jaco De Vries at the moment. He’s an ex-Cape Aero student. Shortly after take off from ORTIA at about 02h30 last Wednesday, Jaco and I heard a familiar voice talking to the radar controller; it was another Capetonian, new daddy, Tim Shillington flying the HS748 from ORTIA to Durban. We had a good natter on the chat frequency.

I also flew with Jaques Le Grange, who was the Cessna Caravan pilot for Assegaai Bosch Game Farm near Oudshoorn. He says hi to all the pilots that went to their fly-in earlier this year.

Jaques Le Grange entering Mozambique using the standard 4a.m. method – through the baggage hatch onto the conveyor belt.

Other CT pilots, Jonathan Cragg, who is just finishing up with Solenta to go and fly 747’s for Mike Kruger Cargo and Paul Greenberg who is with Comair. I interrupted his intense studies last Sunday when I popped in for coffee.

Steven Roberts and Adriaan Loedolff were spotted in Jhb at Solenta interviews, so they may also be based up here soon!

The flying on the Jhb - Maputo route is great for Instrument Flying and night hours and experience. There was an awesome storm over Jhb when we got back last Friday night - aircraft diverting to Rand, Lanseria and Grand Central! ATC chaos! We went through a vicious squall on final with the stormscope showing 84 strikes per minute in our vicinity - The sky didn't even get a chance to darken before the next strike! When we broke through at 50' above minimas, the tower cleared us to land with 25kts of wind at 40 deg off the nose at the threshold of the runway and 45kts at 60 deg off the nose at the other end of the runway!

My C208 Captain, Asnath Mahapa, SAA Cadet, logging more hours of paperwork than flying, on the DHL route to Maputo.

Asnath checking out the threatening sky just before take-off from Maputo.

This is me during the Maputo stopover, studying hard for my ATP exams.

I'm being deployed to a place called Lambarene, in Gabon, in a week or so. If you’re not sure where Gabon is, don’t feel bad, because I had to check on Google Earth myself. It’s on the West Coast, just North of The Congo (Belgian), which is just North of Angola. The capital, Libreville (it means Free Town in French), is one of the places that African slaves were sent to after their release. I'll be based about 150nm inland, in Lambarene, a town mostly famous for its malaria and leprosy research centre, started by Nobel peace prize winner, Albert Schweitzer. Charming!

The Gabon contract involves flying for an oil exploration company. We’ll be flying 500’ above the jungle canopy doing geological surveys, looking for oil. The survey equipment is being installed at Lanseria and then two of us will be ferrying the Cessna Caravan to Lambarene, Gabon via, Maun, Ondangwa, Luanda and Libreville. I’ve been doing the flight planning and it’s interesting to see that the Central African charts still have large areas of unsurveyed territory on them. The areas are just blank and white and have notes on them that say things like, “the terrain is not believed to be above 4300’”.

My next update will be from Gabon. It would be great to hear from you! - Sean

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A380 tour (see dates to diarize) --> Dr Jean-Marc Graumann (Cabin Management Systems, Airbus)



This is an excellent photo of some Korean ( I think) kids who were selected to go on board the A380 when it landed over there on the first rout-proving flight.

Look at all that excitement!








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From the otherside --> G Pinnock

Before I start, let me state that the opinions and views expressed in this piece are mine and mine alone, and are not neccessarily the views of (or endorsed by) CTFC , the CFI, ATNS, any controller, or any other acronym group.

In the past week, I was lucky enough to be able to spend a couple of shifts up in the tower. Staying for a full shift enables you to see a lot more of the bigger picture than the usual brief tower visits allow. Viewing things from a different perspective is always a good thing (did you know that the Tomahawks look really small and slow from the tower...?)

What a lot of pilots (and possibly controllers) often lose sight of is the fact that controllers and pilots actually both have the same goal: The safe completion of the flight. The only difference is that the controller is concerned about the safety of more aircraft than just you.

To help everyone achie ve a safe flight, we unfortunately still have to rely on the human voice. If you think of the chaos this causes between two people who are actually married, the full extent of the problem becomes apparant! Imagine the scene: a busy airspace, everyone wanting to converge on a single point, unable to stop themselves moving forwards at speeds ranging from 70kts (on a good day) to 200kts, and everyone having to speak at some point. Then imagine that someone gets it wrong. The entire process is on hold while each party has to confirm what the other actually wants or understands.

The objective is therefore to communicate as much information as possible, in the short est time possible. This does not (unfortunatly) involve speaking like a hyperactive squirrel to fit as many words into as few seconds as possible, but rather to be as concise as possible. Allow me to explain. For instance, i s it neccessary to repeat an entire traffic advisory, when a simple acknowledgment would do? Does the controller really care that you are flying a blue aircraft, and that you had scrambled eggs for breakfast? This is where the "engage brain, then button" works wonders. Watching an airliner established on the ILS being handed over from Approach while Tower is waiting for a light aircraft's life story to conclude, is not as much fun for the controller as you may think.

Generally speaking, the controllers want us little ones to get to our destination as quickly as possible. This is why they are normally happy to grant most of our (sometimes strange) requests. What pilots sometimes forget when a particular request is denied (while uttering unprintable expletives under our breath), is that the controller is doing just that: controlling the entire airspace.

For example, a certain Warrior wanted a direct routing to FAFK. Despite this a/c being the only one on Tower's frequency, the request was denied. Why? The pilot was unaware of the 737 approaching runway 19 (which normally takes them over the FAFK area). You'll have to take my word for it, but there is no evil intent or deliberate malice to inconvenience anyone unnecessarily.

Similarly, when Tower has a request, the controller generally has a very good reason for it as well. A prime example is short approaches. The tower controller can see the incoming queue of airliners, and in order to minimize our orbiting, they may request a short approach. If you prefer to decline, be prepared to get dizzy!

Another favourite is the request to "plan for charlie". This generally applies if you 'd prefer to avoid becoming a hood ornament on a 747, which, despite many years of technical advancement, is still unable to hover. Have you ever imagined the spectacle of an airliner having to flap its wings backwards to allow a trundling Tomahawk to taxi a few hundred metres down the active runway? It happens more often than you would like to think!

Another thing to keep in mind, is that controllers are people too, and like some other mammals, have long memories; if we make their job difficult they tend to remember and are then increasingly wary of trying to squeeze us into the ever shortening gaps. And because so many of us fly so few aircraft, the actions of one pilot has a knock-on effect that comes back to haunt us all. The controllers are working because we, and other pilots like us, are flying. Let 's at least make their job slightly easier!

Just a reminder that if you wish to meet the controllers, the ATC party is at Ferryman's Tavern at the V&A Waterfront on 25 November at 13h30 B.
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Humour

Kulula airline attendants make an effort to make the in-flight "safety

lecture" and announcements a bit more entertaining.

Here are some real examples that have been heard or reported:

On a Kulula flight, (there is no assigned seating, you just sit where

you want) passengers were apparently having a hard time choosing, when a

flight attendant announced, "People, people we're not picking out

furniture here, find a seat and get in it!"

After a particularly rough landing during thunderstorms in the Karoo, a

flight attendant on a flight announced, "Please take care when opening

the overhead compartments because, after a landing like that, sure as

hell everything has shifted."

"In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend

from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your

face. If you have a small child travelling with you, secure your mask

before assisting with theirs. If you are travelling with more than one

small child, pick your favourite."

"As you exit the plane, make sure to gather all of your belongings.

Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight

attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses."

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