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/ Vol. 5 / No. 2 / FEBRUARY 2013
Boeing has delivered two Space Environmental NanoSat Experiment (SENSE)
satellites to the U.S. Air Force that will help assess the value of small satellites in
military space operations. Weighing less than 9 pounds (4 kilograms) each and
measuring 30 x 10 x 10 centimeters in size, the nanosats are scheduled to launch
in the summer of 2013 and shortly after will begin collecting and transmitting
weather data. In this photo, Boeing software engineer Darin Anderson prepares
one of the SENSE spacecraft for final testing.
Text and image by Clinton Barnard
Military News
Boeing delivers 2 Nanosatellites to US Air Force
With the recent loss of a South African
Air Force 35 Squadron C-47TP
transport aircraft, serial 6840, with all
eleven on board in the Drakensberg
Mountains of KwaZulu-Natal, one
might be tempted to question how
the SAAF's top end aircraft accident
fatality figures compare with those of
others?
SAAF history records that there
were some higher fatality totals for
earlier accidents. On July 11, 1945,
all 28 aboard a C-47A Dakota were
killed in an air accident that in no way
discredited the aircraft since it was
caused by aircrew error. An analysis
of the last 40 years of SAAF accident
history reveals that it has been most
fortunate indeed since its air accidents
have not really resulted in unusually
high fatality figures per accident,
unlike a number of air forces around
the world.
The United States Air Force
suffered one of its worse military
accidents with the loss of a Lockheed
C-5A Galaxy strategic airlifter on
April 4, 1975. This aircraft was taking
part in the airlift of Vietnamese
orphans destined for new homes in the
United States when it crashed, killing
155 people, mostly children.
By comparison the SAAF has
not experienced such heavy fatalities
and those that have occurred have
mostly been confined to the high threat
environment of combat operations: On
September 6, 1979, a SAAF Puma was
shot down over Mozambique killing all
of the apparent 14 aboard, while enemy
anti-aircraft artillery also claimed
another SAAF Puma on August 9,
1982, killing all 15 on board. More
recently, ten were killed when Oryx
1215 crashed on October 23, 1999,
making the latest SAAF C-47TP loss
the single highest fatality accident in
the last 13 years.
As tragic as this latest accident
invariably is, what is not generally
known is that the death toll might have
been significantly higher were it not for
some fortunate circumstances.
Prior to the recent lengthly
hospitalisation of former president Mr
Nelson Mandela, the SA government
had been supporting a two helicopter
Oryx deployment at Mthatha Airport
in the Eastern Cape province, which
is situated slightly north of the former
president's official residence at Qunu.
This deployment serves primarily as a
standby force in the event of a medical
emergency befalling the 94-year-
old president and no flying training
is conducted whilst on deployment
to Mthatha, each helicopter simply
completing 0.3 hours per week to keep
its systems `oiled'.
Although the initial plan only
intended to draw helicopters and air
and ground crews from 15 Squadron
at Air Force Base (AFB) Durban
and 22 Squadron at AFB Ysterplaat,
Cape Town, the shortage of especially
ground support technical personnel
at the Bases concerned, proved too
challenging for the based units and
the deployment pool was eventually
expanded to include all existing
Oryx units. Besides the two already
mentioned, this includes 17 Squadron
at Swartkop, Tshwane, 19 Squadron
at AFB Hoedspruit and 87 Helicopter
Flying School at AFB Bloemspruit,
Bloemfontein.
While the Oryx helicopters remain
on deployment for longer periods, the
personnel are rotated weekly with
35 Squadron's C-47TP turboprop
transports mostly being used during
these `changing of the guard' activities.
It just so happened that during the
week of early December, besides the
crews, the deployed Oryx at Mthatha
were also due for replacement. The
replacement crews thus flew the
replacement aircraft to Mthatha
themselves rather than catching the
usual transport aircraft which would
otherwise have conveyed them there.
Had these crews not had reason to do
so, then they would also have been
counted among the passengers of
the ill-fated C-47TP and the fatality
count would have been significantly
higher and almost double what it
actually was. ·
SAAF C-47TP 6840 named 'Gooney Bird' pictured on taxi out at AFB Waterkloof, Tshwane, on September 22, 2012, prior to its flying
display during the Africa Aerospace and Defence exhibition. It departed from Waterkloof on its fatal flight on December 5, 2012, after
having only been officially unveiled in this fetching Silver Falcons Aerobatic Team colour scheme at nearby Swartkop as recently as
September 17, 2012.
It could have
been far worse!
On Thursday, 10 January this year,
Denel Group CEO, Mr Riaz Saloojee
announced the retirement of Mr Carel
Wolhuter as CEO of PMP, a division
of Denel and the appointment of Mr
Phaladi Petje as the new CEO. Mr
Petje will assume leadership of PMP
from 1 May 2013.
Mr Wolhuter has been at the helm
of PMP as CEO for the past 17 years.
He has built sound relationships with
numerous local and international
clients and stakeholders, and made
an invaluable contribution to PMP's
success. His achievements include
leading a turnaround strategy and
returning the PMP business from a
loss of R80m in 2005 to the current
profit of about R15m.
Mr Wolhuter will still be involved
with PMP in a mentorship capacity
and overseeing specific projects before
finally retiring on 31 October 2013.
One of the projects he will be involved
in is to finalise the celebrations of
PMP's 75th anniversary in October
2013. PMP is the oldest business
division within the Denel Group,
dating back to 1938.
Mr Petje's appointment as CEO
comes after 11 years in the Denel
Group of which 8 years as Executive
Manager Marketing at PMP and as
Deputy CEO since 1 July 2012. He
has strong leadership abilities, a sound
knowledge of the Denel Group and
of PMP's operations and significant
business issues. He understands
the local and international Defence
environment and has built strong
PMP CEO to hand over the reigns
after 17 years