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Air News On Partnerships, Navigation Aids, Business Jet Increasing Importance In International Markets & Sita Survey On Safety Traiining In Africa

Airbus Flies with UCT to   Study "Flocking Formations"

Airbus has entered into a partnership with the University of Cape Town (UCT) to study the potential benefits and impact of formation flying and explore if this could be applied to passenger services to reduce fuel burn.

"Large birds benefit from co-operative flying to save energy, giving them increased range, "explained Professor Christiaan Redelinghuys, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, which is undertaking the two-part study.

"When they fly in formation, the leading bird's wings generate trailing vortices of air- just as fixed wing aircraft do. But the birds following behind get a free lift from these vortices, which mean they use less energy to fly. If we could safely harness those benefits, we could reduce the aviation industry's consumption of fossil fuels," he added.

"The first element of the work at UCT focuses on the effects of atmospheric turbulence on fuel saving while the second part will look at the impact of turbulence on the comfort and ergonomics for passengers, pilots and cabin crew," outlined Dale King, senior manager for Research and Technology Partnerships at Airbus.

"Grouping together aircraft flying similar routes, for example from Europe to Africa, could in theory provide a reduction in fuel burn and emissions, but we have to take into account all other operational factors. We are delighted to be working with UCT to investigate this further," added King.

UCT and Airbus are adopting a biomimicry approach in the exploration of formation flight. Nature's lessons have the potential to yield enormous benefits, especially in helping to minimize mankind's environmental impact.

As part of this overall project, Airbus is also supporting studies at Stanford and Bristol Universities.

Airbus partnership with UCT is the latest in  a string of South African research and technology projects being sponsored by the aircraft manufacturer .In 2006 Airbus, together with South Africa's Department of Trade  and Industry's National Aerospace Centre of Excellence and the Department of Science and Technology ,launched  a collaborative programme to identify and co-fund a range of studies  into new materials and methods which had potential applications in the aerospace and air transport sectors.

Other South Africa partners in the programme include the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Stellenbosch University, and the University of the Witwatersrand.

Airbus is also calling for African students to participate in biennial Fly Your Ideas contest.

Students worldwide are challenged to develop new ideas for a greener aviation industry. Entrants stand to win over r 300000(Euros 30,000).

Airbus CEO Jumps from A400M

A ten-man team of parachutists who jumped from the new Airbus Military A400M airlifter recently included Airbus president and CEO, Tom Enders, and the A400M programme Manager at the OCCAR organization for the management of European defense programmes, Bruno Delannoy.The two men, both accomplished skydivers, were part of a highly experienced team of Airbus staff and other experienced sport parachutists with 35000 previous descents between them. They jumped from the ramp of development aircraft, Grizzly 3, over the La Juliana drop-zone near Seville, Spain, where the aircraft was assembled.

Cessna's Expects International Markets to Assume Increasing Importance

International demand will make an important contribution to the business jet markets gradual recovery and account for an increased proportion of future sales, according to Trevor Esling, Cessnas vice president for international sales.

Speaking at the recent Future of Business jets conference in London, Esling said:"Cessna expects that increased customer demand will first become apparent in certain international markets, and that regions such as Eastern Europe and Russia, Latin America and the Middle East will become more significant markets alongside the United States and European Union."

Esling also observed that China and India would grow in importance as business jet markets in the medium term, with the potential for increased demand for all categories of business aircraft.

Finding The Place

Aids to the navigation of aircraft improved enormously between 1945 and 1960 in Southern Africa. Radio beacons were installed on all the main routes and even at some of the most outlandish spots.

Large aircraft, and many light ones, were equipped at least with a ‘radio compass' (automatic direction finder-ADF), in addition to the mandatory magnetic one.

But it was a very different story before World War 11.There were few, if any, radio beacons and the one or two aircraft which were equipped with  a radio compass(ADF) could only tune into broadcast stations, which allowed the pilot to "home" on his destination.

Those of us whose aircraft were not blessed with radio luxuries had to find our way around the country with a magnetic compass and maps. The latter were not always reliable, so most of us had our own pet methods of finding our way around. Some of us learned some hard lessons.

Railways, rivers and roads were essential and elementary aids to navigation and, for the most part, they were reliable; but not always.

When I learned to fly my instructors impressed upon me how preferable it was, if caught in bad weather, to follow a railway line rather than a road, because the gradient of a road could be much steeper. And generally speaking this was true, but the first time I put this profound piece of advice to the test I received a sharp lesson.

Finding myself in misty conditions between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown, I picked up the railway line near Alicedale and soon found it ascending into the hill at a gradient equal to the maximum rate of climb of my small, but heavily laden aircraft.

And if this wasn't enough, the confounded railway suddenly disappeared into a tunnel through the highlands! I don't recall exactly how I solved the problem, but it must have involved some rather heart-stopping man oeuvres through the cloudy trees!

But despite such incidents, railways were of enormous value to the inexperienced pilot and a copy of the railway guide was a "must" in every pilots  well-equipped briefcase .If one was uncertain of ones position, one could always descend to a low altitude and read the name of the first siding or station that might appear.

Then you could work out where the devil you were from the guide and how far to the next station.

Rivers-they are generally safe to follow when flying downstream, but waterfalls can be a hazard when flying upstream. The bridges are usually sufficiently substantial to be seen in good time, even in poor visibility, but there are other snags along rivers. For example there are a couple of telephone wires strung across the Mazoe river  near Tete, in Mozambique, which have been dismantled by low flying aircraft on at least three occasions to my certain knowledge.

And one would assume that once a river starts to flow in a given direction it would stay like that, but not so with the Botletle river, near Maun, in Botswana, which connects the Okavango Swamps with the Makarakari salt pans. Depending on the amount of water in these two areas, the river with either flow north-west or south-east .This was a sure trap for a pilot trying to find Maun before his fuel ran out.

Roads, generally, were not as reliable as railway lines and rivers, as new ones had a habit of appearing which were not marked on any but the most up-t-date maps. They did have the advantage, however, that if in reasonable repair, they could be relied upon as a landing ground if the engine stopped.

Most landmarks take the form of fixed geographical features, like mountains and lakes, from which to take a bearing. But not so with a herd of elephants that used to remain more or less stationary on the track between Salisbury (now Harare) and Bulawayo between the Umniati and Umsweswe rivers. A pilot who sighted them knew that he couldn't be far off track.

Although a pilot always used his eyes for navigation, there are another sense that could greatly assist him. The whaling station at the Bluff, near Durban, could be smelled from many miles away when the wind was in the right quarter. And during the orange blossom season the delightful scent of the trees on the Zebedelia estate near Petersburg (Polk wane), or the Mazoe citrus estate, could be detected many thousands of feet above the ground.

Kasama (Zambia) was not the easiest place to find, but the public spirited inn-keeper of the hotel near the airport had been sufficiently co-operative to install an old farm house PK (toilet) . I've been told on unimpeachable authority that old-time pilots in conditions of poor visibility would open their cockpit window and ‘home in' on the aroma.

I have not had the pleasure of visiting Kasama for some 15years, but hopefully the plumbing has been modernized and a new radio beacon has been installed coding Papa Kilo!

Boeing Proposes Embraer Link In Bid For Brazilian Contract

Boeing is offering to partner with Brazils Embrear on a new fighter jet in an effort to strengthen its bid for a multi-billion-dollar Brazilian defense contract.

Joseph McAndrew, Boeings vice president for Europe, Israel and America, said that the firm proposed 10 partnership projects with Brazil's aviation leader, including building a new plant in the country to build parts for Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet.

The jet is locked in a heated competition with Dassaults Rafale and the Gripen NG by Sweden's Saab to supply the Brazilian air force with 36 state-of –the-art fighter aircraft for a value of between four-and seven-billion dollars.

It is understood that Boeing also offered Embraer assembly of the F/A-18, as well as manufacture of the nose, wings and tail.

‘Never before has Boeing offered such a broad, clear package of technology transfer dedicated to Brazil," McAndrew said." All elements of the US Government that could veto such a transfer signed a pledge saying they would do so. Both Congress and the Defense Department."

In early November, after a series of postponements, outgoing Brazilian president, Luiz lnacio Lula da Silva, said he would decide the closely-watched tender soon with his successor Dilma Rousseff.

Lula has described the Rafale as the favorite in the tender, with Dassault committed to substantial transfer of technology to Brazil if it wins the contract.

However, local media leaks have indicated that the Gripen NG is the fighter jet favored by Brazil's air force.

South Americas economic powerhouse has sought to modernize its military infrastructure, and has pursued several billion-dollar contracts complete with technology transfer that would allow Brazil to produce and market its own products in Latin America.

SITA Delivers Milestone Survey On Safety Training In Africa

Following a comprehensive survey of more than 100 stakeholders in the African aviation industry, SITA has confirmed the delivery of date to ICAO on the capacity and demand for aviation training in Africa.

The online database, developed at the request of ICAO (International Civil  Aviation Organization) , is part of the comprehensive regional implementation plan for Aviation Safety in Africa(Africa-Indian Ocean Plan) .It was prepared by SITA with the assistance of air traffic management consultancy ,Helios.

The AFI Plan addresses the concerns expressed by the ICAO Council on the safety status of aircraft operations in the AFI Region. The council recognized that the problems facing the States in the AFI region and many other States are similar in nature.

The SITA/Helios team worked closely with the AFI training experts working group to design a survey that would assess the aviation training needs and resources of the continent and ensure the data collected would inform future roadmaps for training harmonization.

Rob Watkins,SITA regional vice president ,Africa, speaking at the ICAO regional seminar in MAPUTO, Mozambique ,recently ,said: " This survey has been a significant undertaking .More than 100 detailed responses were gathered from training organizations, regulators, air navigation service providers, airlines  and maintenance organizations across Africa.

"SITAs in-country experts ensured that  a wide cross section of stakeholders' responded fully, guaranteeing that the information gathered will be put to good use to help improve aviation safety in Africa."

From the surveys and face-to-face consultations, key themes on training availability and harmonization across Africa were identified and presented to the working group. States in the region are now encouraged to make use of the secure online database.

Recommendations and an action plan for harmonizing training in Africa were adopted at the Pan-AFRICAN aviation Training Coordination Conference held in Cairo, where over 30 Africa States were represented.

About the Author

Anthony Juma is the Editor and Senior Aviation Director at Wings Over Africa Aviation. 
This is an Air Charter Company that specializes on Air News On Partnerships, Navigation Aids, Business Jet Increasing Importance In International Markets. The website has guided thousands of travelers to achieve their dream holiday. For more information and guidance, visit the site at http:// / www.wingsoverafrica-aviation.com/index.php/services/charter-flights.html

Would a Mensa group be a more effective diversion than a group of religious zealots in a zombie rush?

Zombies like brains. Lots of brains.

Thus, if you were being pursued by a hoard of zombies on the desperate streets of Zombie City, and had some of your special ops buddies airlift in two container trucks, one full of Mensa members, the other full of religious zealots of whatever denomination, which would create the more effective diversion?

Would the zombies choose smarter brains over zealotous, possibly not as smart brains?

(Yahoo's first suggested category... Society & Culture > Cultures & Groups > Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered... I don't think zombies are lesbian, gay, or transgenered, but no offense to any lesbian, gay or transgendered zombies out there. Maybe some of those characteristics follow them from life into death-life, even though the naughty bits may've already been gnawed away by their putrid cohorts?)

But possibly both are very smart? Or maybe the zombies are looking for brainwaves emitted? Not merely content or function ability of the brain?

I'm sure zealots emit interesting brainwaves lol.

RAAF - Air Lift Group 2009