NEWS & EVENTS - GENERAL
12 December 2004
Hercules numbers put into perspective
General
"The SAAF acquired 7 C130B aircraft in 1963. In the late 1990s the USA donated 2 USAF C130B and 3 USN C130F EDA (ex desert) aircraft to the RSA (SAAF). At the time it was also decided to upgrade the fleet. However, because of major airframe corr...
10 December 2004
Pennant to supply further Training Systems to support
General
Pennant Training Systems has been contracted by BAE SYSTEMS to design, produce and supply a Virtual Aircraft Training System (VATS) for the Hawk Training Suite for the South African Air Force, production work for which has been ongoing this year.An a...
10 December 2004
SAAF says fleet of C-130s 'are safe'
General
The SA Air Force (SAAF) denied on Friday that its fleet of C130 Hercules aircraft was not airworthy. The SAAF was responding to news reports and remarks by some defence attaches based in Pretoria that the aircraft, in use with 28 Squadron, appeared t...
9 December 2004
SA, Airbus to sign a deal
General
South Africa is committed to buying at least €837m worth of military aircraft in exchange for investment, technological knowledge and jobs, the transport department said on Thursday. The country has agreed to participate in the A400M multi-role ...
3 December 2004
Ysterplaat Air Extravaganza
General
As the SAAF only allows one official 'airshow' per year, it was decided that Ysterplaat should host a fly-in to celebrate, amongst other things, 10 years of democracy. As all the arrangements were being arranged for one day, it was fairly eas...
14 November 2004
High-flyer Zuma's 'jaunts' under fire
General
Deputy President Jacob Zuma and his entourage have flown on official government aircraft to destinations around South Africa 126 times in less than two years, at a cost to taxpayers of a whopping R11,2-million.Of these flights, 73 were to his home ci...
12 November 2004
Mbeki's jet needs extra R20m
General
President Thabo Mbeki's jet - named the Inkwazi - is set to require nearly R20m more than the R58m budgeted for running costs by the defence department over the next three years. The aircraft falls under the defence department vote.Although it is...
10 November 2004
'Failures' in a pilot project
General
The department of defence is considering sending student pilots who fail their exams to Botswana to find out whether they deserved to fail or not. Speaking on behalf of Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and defence secretary January Masilela, the depar...
5 November 2004
Defence department hails new chiefs
General
Major-General Carlo Gagiano and Rear Admiral Refiloe Mudimu have been appointed chief of the South African Air Force and chief of the South African Navy respectively from February 1 next year, the department of defence said on Thursday.Gagiano, curre...
4 November 2004
JARIC wins awards
General
Reconnaissance and intelligence are in fine fettle at AFB Waterkloof if the base awards are any criterion.The base's Joint Air Reconnaissance and Intelligence Centre yesterday walked off with no fewer than five of the 14 trophies presented at the...
3 November 2004
'Miracle' pilot meets his angel
General
As the giant eight-ton Air Force Oryx helicopter hurtled uncontrollably to Earth, Captain Brent Groger believed he was "most definitely finished".Groger, 25, was in the rear of the chopper and the last thing he remembers about the freak acc...
28 October 2004
Alouettes 'on leave' after accident
General
The following is a rough translation from an Afrikaans article that appeared in Beeld:The Alouette helicopters from the airforce helicopter flying school at Bloemspruit have been grounded after one of the helicopters performed an emergency landing du...
26 October 2004
Alouette performs emergency landing
General
An uncomfirmed rumour states that an Alouette III of 87 HFS, flown by a student, performed an emergency landing in a field today after rumblings were heard from the engine, which then 'cut out'.The Alouettes have, once again, been grounded....
25 October 2004
Department of Defence (DoD) Annual Report for 2003/04 released
General
Herewith some selected SAAF related information I've extracted from the Department of Defence Annual Report for 2003/04, which was submitted to the parliamentary Defence Portfolio Committee on 12 October 2004.Annual Turnover Rates by Critical Occ...
25 October 2004
Status of new aircraft acquisitions
General
At an Armscor Financial Year 2003/04 presentation to the parliamentary Defence Portfolio Committee on 12 October 2004, the status of the new aircraft acquisition programmes were indicated as:Maritime Patrol Helicopters (Super Lynx)- 4 helicopters pur...
22 October 2004
SA's future acquisitions programmes emerge
General
South Africa's post strategic defence package (SDP) requirements are becoming clearer. It has long been known that the Army would benefit most in the next decade as its equipment reached block obsolescence, but the air force and navy too needs a ...
22 October 2004
Time to cull Rooivalk?
General
The country's leading Afrikaans daily, Beeld, in an editorial on Tuesday said the time had come to decide the fate of the Rooivalk attack helicopter. It noted the government had decided to bail out near-bankrupt Denel and that part of the "s...
22 October 2004
Pilot training for Agusta helicopters underway
General
The SA Air Force has started training pilots, air- and ground crew for its new fleet of Agusta A109 light utility helicopters (LUHs). The South African Department of Defence says the training is taking place at 87 Helicopter Flying school at Air Forc...
14 October 2004
Denel appeals for funds to complete Rooivalk project
General
Denel, the state-owned arms manufacturer, says it needs government money to complete the development of its Rooivalk attack helicopter. Denel executives today told Parliament's public enterprises committee that the programme has cost R2 billion s...
8 October 2004
Hercules brakes catch fire
General
The following is a rough translation from an Afrikaans article that appeared in Beeld:One of the SAAFs C-130 Hercules aircraft caused drama on Friday at Johannesburg International Airport when the brakes caught fire. The aircraft came to a stop on on...
8 October 2004
Rooivalk flys so low over house that rooftiles fall off
General
The following is a rough translation from an Afrikaans article that appeared in Beeld:A family from Navalsig in Bloemfontein is obtaining legal advice after a Rooivalk helicopter from the Bloemspruit Air Force Base flew so low over their house that t...
3 October 2004
Indians fly along road for Golden Eagle
General
The following is a rough translation from an Afrikaans article that appeared in Beeld:It took the Indian airforce almost ten flight hours with six Mirage 2000 fighters for the airforce's first international excercise with South African fighter sq...
2 October 2004
Air Force mum on rumours that crash pilot failed written exams three times
General
The SA Air Force will investigate allegations that a trainee pilot who crashed an aircraft near Langebaan this week had repeatedly failed his written examinations and should not have been allowed to fly.According to a report this week, the trainee pi...
30 September 2004
SAAF: 'Quotas, not quality'
General
Former flight instructors said on Wednesday the air force's focus was no longer on quality, but rather on statistics and quotas. This came after a student pilot crashed a plane on Tuesday - after having failed his flight test three times. It is b...
28 September 2004
'Failed' student prangs plane
General
An aviation student at the airforce's central flying school - who was earlier allowed to continue his training despite failing numerous exams - damaged a training aircraft in an accident at the school on Tuesday (today). The student is unscathed,...
Hercules numbers put into perspective
General
"The SAAF acquired 7 C130B aircraft in 1963. In the late 1990s the USA donated 2 USAF C130B and 3 USN C130F EDA (ex desert) aircraft to the RSA (SAAF). At the time it was also decided to upgrade the fleet. However, because of major airframe corr...
Pennant to supply further Training Systems to support
General
Pennant Training Systems has been contracted by BAE SYSTEMS to design, produce and supply a Virtual Aircraft Training System (VATS) for the Hawk Training Suite for the South African Air Force, production work for which has been ongoing this year.An a...
SAAF says fleet of C-130s 'are safe'
General
The SA Air Force (SAAF) denied on Friday that its fleet of C130 Hercules aircraft was not airworthy. The SAAF was responding to news reports and remarks by some defence attaches based in Pretoria that the aircraft, in use with 28 Squadron, appeared t...
SA, Airbus to sign a deal
General
South Africa is committed to buying at least €837m worth of military aircraft in exchange for investment, technological knowledge and jobs, the transport department said on Thursday. The country has agreed to participate in the A400M multi-role ...
Ysterplaat Air Extravaganza
General
As the SAAF only allows one official 'airshow' per year, it was decided that Ysterplaat should host a fly-in to celebrate, amongst other things, 10 years of democracy. As all the arrangements were being arranged for one day, it was fairly eas...
High-flyer Zuma's 'jaunts' under fire
General
Deputy President Jacob Zuma and his entourage have flown on official government aircraft to destinations around South Africa 126 times in less than two years, at a cost to taxpayers of a whopping R11,2-million.Of these flights, 73 were to his home ci...
Mbeki's jet needs extra R20m
General
President Thabo Mbeki's jet - named the Inkwazi - is set to require nearly R20m more than the R58m budgeted for running costs by the defence department over the next three years. The aircraft falls under the defence department vote.Although it is...
'Failures' in a pilot project
General
The department of defence is considering sending student pilots who fail their exams to Botswana to find out whether they deserved to fail or not. Speaking on behalf of Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and defence secretary January Masilela, the depar...
Defence department hails new chiefs
General
Major-General Carlo Gagiano and Rear Admiral Refiloe Mudimu have been appointed chief of the South African Air Force and chief of the South African Navy respectively from February 1 next year, the department of defence said on Thursday.Gagiano, curre...
JARIC wins awards
General
Reconnaissance and intelligence are in fine fettle at AFB Waterkloof if the base awards are any criterion.The base's Joint Air Reconnaissance and Intelligence Centre yesterday walked off with no fewer than five of the 14 trophies presented at the...
'Miracle' pilot meets his angel
General
As the giant eight-ton Air Force Oryx helicopter hurtled uncontrollably to Earth, Captain Brent Groger believed he was "most definitely finished".Groger, 25, was in the rear of the chopper and the last thing he remembers about the freak acc...
Alouettes 'on leave' after accident
General
The following is a rough translation from an Afrikaans article that appeared in Beeld:The Alouette helicopters from the airforce helicopter flying school at Bloemspruit have been grounded after one of the helicopters performed an emergency landing du...
Alouette performs emergency landing
General
An uncomfirmed rumour states that an Alouette III of 87 HFS, flown by a student, performed an emergency landing in a field today after rumblings were heard from the engine, which then 'cut out'.The Alouettes have, once again, been grounded....
Department of Defence (DoD) Annual Report for 2003/04 released
General
Herewith some selected SAAF related information I've extracted from the Department of Defence Annual Report for 2003/04, which was submitted to the parliamentary Defence Portfolio Committee on 12 October 2004.Annual Turnover Rates by Critical Occ...
Status of new aircraft acquisitions
General
At an Armscor Financial Year 2003/04 presentation to the parliamentary Defence Portfolio Committee on 12 October 2004, the status of the new aircraft acquisition programmes were indicated as:Maritime Patrol Helicopters (Super Lynx)- 4 helicopters pur...
SA's future acquisitions programmes emerge
General
South Africa's post strategic defence package (SDP) requirements are becoming clearer. It has long been known that the Army would benefit most in the next decade as its equipment reached block obsolescence, but the air force and navy too needs a ...
Time to cull Rooivalk?
General
The country's leading Afrikaans daily, Beeld, in an editorial on Tuesday said the time had come to decide the fate of the Rooivalk attack helicopter. It noted the government had decided to bail out near-bankrupt Denel and that part of the "s...
Pilot training for Agusta helicopters underway
General
The SA Air Force has started training pilots, air- and ground crew for its new fleet of Agusta A109 light utility helicopters (LUHs). The South African Department of Defence says the training is taking place at 87 Helicopter Flying school at Air Forc...
Denel appeals for funds to complete Rooivalk project
General
Denel, the state-owned arms manufacturer, says it needs government money to complete the development of its Rooivalk attack helicopter. Denel executives today told Parliament's public enterprises committee that the programme has cost R2 billion s...
Hercules brakes catch fire
General
The following is a rough translation from an Afrikaans article that appeared in Beeld:One of the SAAFs C-130 Hercules aircraft caused drama on Friday at Johannesburg International Airport when the brakes caught fire. The aircraft came to a stop on on...
Rooivalk flys so low over house that rooftiles fall off
General
The following is a rough translation from an Afrikaans article that appeared in Beeld:A family from Navalsig in Bloemfontein is obtaining legal advice after a Rooivalk helicopter from the Bloemspruit Air Force Base flew so low over their house that t...
Indians fly along road for Golden Eagle
General
The following is a rough translation from an Afrikaans article that appeared in Beeld:It took the Indian airforce almost ten flight hours with six Mirage 2000 fighters for the airforce's first international excercise with South African fighter sq...
Air Force mum on rumours that crash pilot failed written exams three times
General
The SA Air Force will investigate allegations that a trainee pilot who crashed an aircraft near Langebaan this week had repeatedly failed his written examinations and should not have been allowed to fly.According to a report this week, the trainee pi...
SAAF: 'Quotas, not quality'
General
Former flight instructors said on Wednesday the air force's focus was no longer on quality, but rather on statistics and quotas. This came after a student pilot crashed a plane on Tuesday - after having failed his flight test three times. It is b...
'Failed' student prangs plane
General
An aviation student at the airforce's central flying school - who was earlier allowed to continue his training despite failing numerous exams - damaged a training aircraft in an accident at the school on Tuesday (today). The student is unscathed,...
