Waterkloof air force base grounded

Waterkloof air force base - the country's most prominent air force base - is closing all flying operations for 18 months, said Chief of the SA Air Force (SAAF) Lieutenant-General Carlo Gagiano on Friday.

Repairs and an upgrade of the base's main runway are to start in July and should last about 18 months, Gagiano said at a media briefing at air force base Makhado, in the Limpopo province.

Waterkloof is home to 21 Squadron, the SAAF's VIP air transport unit which operates President Thabo Mbeki's Boeing BBJ and several other VIP aircraft used to fly high-ranking members of government and the defence force.

The squadron has already moved to a temporary home at OR Tambo International Airport in eastern Johannesburg.

Waterkloof also hosts several other squadrons including those which operate the SAAF workhorse C130 transport aircraft and the Boeing 707. Both are used to support South African peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and the Sudan.

These flight operations will temporarily move to Swartkops airfield which has a newly resealed runway. Swartkops is very close to Waterkloof and was decommissioned in the late 1990s.

Waterkloof is the first place foreign leaders with private planes land when they are on official visits to South Africa.

One of the biggest of these planes was US President George W Bush's Air Force One.

"The runway was never designed for anything bigger than the C130s," Gagiano said.

The sewerage system and drains at the Waterkloof base were also upgraded to prevent sinkholes which are a common occurrence in the area.

Since it was officially opened in 1938, Waterkloof has always been in service, first used for air operations during World War II and during conflicts since then.

SAPA

Webmasters note:

As stated, work will commence at Waterkloof in July 2007 and is scheduled to last 18 months. All the VIP aircraft and Boeing 707 will move to the Johannesburg-based International Airport. The rest of the aircraft will move over to Swartkop.

It is not intended for Waterkloof to close, as all maintenance and management will still be at Waterkloof, just that the actual aircraft will fly from Swartkop. Thus, only the neccessary personnel required for that flight will go to Swartkop and they will return to Waterkloof once the flight is over (ie, daily).

Similarly, all servicings will still be performed at Waterkloof. The intention is to keep a taxiway open so that aircraft can go to or from 1 ASU for scheduled servicing.