SAA Orange Tail

Desember/December 1969

No. 72

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A BLISTERING PACE

It’s a long way from Simonstown to Cape Town – es­pecially if you’re walking! These are the feelings of two of the girls at S.A.A.’s Cape Town Air Terminal, Margaret Riley and Evadne Johnson. They should know. They’ve tried it!

This effort was part of this year’s Big Walk, which was held in the Cape recently. The ingredients necessary for becoming a successful Big Walker are tons of stamina and loads of deter­mination. The rewards for crossing the finish line are a liberal helping of glory and 221/₂ miles worth of blisters! Margaret and Evadne have obviously got what it takes, but they also had to take what they got, which proved a painful experience!

Congratulations to the pair of them! Maybe their success will inspire the formation of a fully sponsored Airways team for next year’s event.

Margaret and Evadne smiling happily after their painful ex­perience.

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ROCK LOBSTERS BY Q.C.

A record consignment of eight and a half tons of live rock obsters specially packed in cartons with dry ice, together with two tons of general cargo were recently loaded into the Boeing 727QC at Cape Town for Johannesburg. The rock lobsters were immediately transferred to the S.A.A.,’U.T.A, freighter which left the same day, arriving in Paris the following morning as fresh as when they were taken from the sea. As a result of this excellent means of transport, the con­veyance of Cape rock lobsters by air is becoming a regular occurrence. The freighter version of the QC is capable of carrying a maximum load of 16 tons – a very substantial chunk by air.

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INTERPOL TO FIGHT PIRATES

Interpol, the international Criminal Police Organisation, has formulated a comprehensive plan to fight aircraft hijacking.

Among proposals to be discussed by police delegates to Interpol’s annual conference in Mexico City, are the sugges­tions for far-reaching international agreements, airport weapon­checks and restrictions on the publicity of hijackings.

The Interpol general secretariat wants all national penal codes to include provisions to cover hijacking. It wants hijackers to be tried in the country where the aircraft is registered because courts there are likely to take a stricter view of the offence than those where the plane is forced to land. It feels that a new international convention should be drawn up to allow the extradition of air pirates. The plan is backed by an analysis ol^- 45 attempted hijackings – 34 of them successful.

The IATA director-general, Mr. Knut Hammarskjold, said hi­jacking incidents were equally embarrassing to everybody. It was a phenomenon which could hit any country, airline and passenger at any time, and in almost any area.

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NAV. AID FOR S.A.A.

One of the most modern navigational aid systems for air­craft is in the process of being installed at South Africa’s six major airports and will bring civil aviation into line with the safest anywhere.

A spokesman for the Pretoria-based company, handling the R2,000,000 contract for the Department of Transport, said the American-designed guidance system is being installed at Jan Smuts Airport, Cape Town, Durban, Bloemfontein, East London and Port Elizabeth. Official commission of the sophisticated equipment will take place after all ground and flight checking has been completed.

The system known as VORTAC is a combination of civilian and military-tested distance and direction information and is effective for 200 nautical miles from the facility for an aircraft flying at 30,000 feet.

By improving navigation, VORTAC will contribute to the more economic and safer operation of aircraft in South Africa. S.A.A.’s aircraft have already been fitted with VORTAC equip­ment.

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MOLOPO

South African Airways lastest acquisition, the third Boeing 737 MOLOPO (named after the river on the Republic/Botswana oorder) arrived at Jan Smuts Airport on October 27, piloted from Seattle by Fleet Captains S. (Pi) Pienaar and P. Pattison.

On landing it was, however, discovered that the name was spelt MALOPO, but our men soon got to work and in no time restored it to its rightful name.

Three more of these versatile aircraft are to be delivered during the first half of next year, primarily for use on the shorter internal sectors such as Johannesburg/Durban/East London/Port Elizabeth; Kimberley/Bloemfontein, etc.

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PET LEGUAAN GETS IN PILOT’S WAY

The pilot of a South African Airways Dakota, Captain Len Bekker, called the Gaberone control tower recently saying that a leguaan which had been in a cardboard box under a passenger’s seat had got out, run into the cockpit and ended up between the co-pilot’s legs and the aircraft’s controls.

It was raining at the time, visibility was down to two miles and the surface wind at the airport was gusting to 30 knots across the runway.

The aircraft was due to land at Gaberone in five minutes. The pilot could not use his rudder or brakes but was able to land safely using the full 5,000 ft. of the runway.

The reptile was later extricated by removing a panel in the nose of the plane.

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NAMES FOR 747′s

The three Boeing 747 high-capacity jet aircraft which are due for delivery to S.A.A. towards the end of 1971, will, like the Dakota DC-3 aircraft in the fleet, be named after South African mountains. Their names will be Tafelberg, Drakensberg and Lebombo.

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