On-The-Air (17/06/2005)

17th June 2005

  

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Every Friday morning, SAfm's AMLive's radio anchor John Perlman speaks to Martin Creamer, publishing editor of Engineering News and Mining Weekly. Reported here is this Friday's At the Coalface transcript:

Perlman: This is intriguing, today at 10h00, all being well, South Africa will launch a rocket.

Creamer: That is correct, today at 10h00, all being well, South Africa will launch a rocket in the Karoo. It is not going to be a rocket that goes into outer space, in fact it won't even go close to outer space, it will only go 10 km up and the edge of outer space is 100 km up, but it does represent a return to rocketry in South Africa, on a semi-professional level, after about 40 years, because the previous government asked rocketeers to desist in the 60s and they haven't been doing anything since then. Now, the South African Rocketry Association has returned and, backed by Anglo Platinum, they have got the Rocket Saranglo, which will be launched, if everything goes well, today at 10h00. If things don't go well, it will probably be launched tomorrow at 10h00. They are determined to get this rocket up and it will have scientific payload on it. This launch is a starting point and they want to go further with bigger rockets, going beyond the 10 km range to 45 km range in three years. Just to give you some idea of the cost of a rocket like this, if we had to take one to the edge of outer space, that is 100 km up, with a payload of about 1 kg, it would cost about R750 000 to do so. They want to do about three at greater heights in the future, to about the 45 km level, and also involve universities and have a lot more scientific payload, so they can do atmospheric research with the rockets, because it is cheaper to do such research with rockets than with conventional aircraft.

Perlman: Flying opportunities for young black South Africans.

Creamer: Yes, two blacks will be flying high, also today, over Durban and that will be thanks to the Transport Education and Training Authority (TETA), which is a Seta in the transport area in general, and also to its Aerospace Chamber in particular. They see training black pilots as a national priority. In this case it is helicopter pilots and they are spending about R2,9-million training 11 pilots, who should graduate in November. It is all very well getting your 200 hours for a Commercial Pilots Licence, but that also doesn't always get you a job and the TETA doesn't only look at funding, but also looks at standards. So, this will be done in cooperation with Acher Aviation of Durban, which has a very specialist type of helicopter service, an all-weather 24-hour service; it keeps the ports going, because it works for the South African Ports Authority; it flies marine pilots out to sea and back to make sure that South African trade keeps going. So, it is a very specialist area that you can get high ratings on. Two previously-disadvantaged, black South Africans, Ofile Kgalegi and Arnold Louw, will be going into the skies today, all day, as part of a mentorship, which can up their rating and employment opportunity once they graduate with their 200 hours and additional mentorship hours, thanks to the State, which puts the money towards the sector training authorities, and also Acher Aviation of Durban.

Perlman: The sky is the limit today, Martin, three South African made Hawk aircraft about to take to the skies.

Creamer: Yes, three Hawks are about to fly their Kempton Park nest. We know about these Hawks being built in Gauteng as part as the defence re-equiping programme. The nice part about it is that their local content is high. They get assembled at the Denel works, close to Johannesburg International Airport, and have South African-made components. The first of them was built in the UK, it came here in 2003, but there are 23 others that are going to be assembled in South Africa. The first three of those are already almost finished, they are going for their pre-delivery service prior to hand-over to the South African Air Force. They will replace 40 of the last Impalas as trainer-fighter jets, and these will come off at a rate of about two a month from August, going through to July next year, to give us a fleet of 24 Hawks - 23 with South African components and South African assembly, with the help, of course, of BAE Systems, the British-Scandinavian winner of the Hawk contract for the defence re-equiping programme.

Perlman: There is a term in the investment world called blue sky potential, that is what we were talking about today, with Martin Creamer publishing editor of Engineering News and Mining Weekly. He'll be back with us at the same time next week.

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Edited by Yolande Botes
Creamer Media Assistant Chief Operating Officer and Personal Assistant to the Publishing Editor

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