Closure of farm strips

[Slabfish]

I think the Farm strip issue will affect us Microlighters a lot

AWSA NEWS - 30 SEPTEMBER 2007.

1. MORATORIUM ON PPL FEES

2. ACSA FEES

3. DEAT - CLOSURE OF FARM STRIPS AND AIRSPACE RESTRICTIONS.

4. TRANSPONDERS - ATNS CLARIFIES PROCESS

5. NTCA - FRUSTRATION SETS IN

6. IFR ALTERNATES - WORK GROUP FORMED

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. MORATORIUM ON PPL FEES

The SACAA has notified industry that it has decided to place a
moratorium on the charging of fees for PPL exams as an interim
measure until such time that the concerns raised by GA
representatives have been addressed. The CEO has granted a blanket
exemption of fees to all applicants sitting PPL exams during the
period 25 September 2007 to 31 December 2007.

2. ACSA FEES

With the gazetted implementation date of 1 November approaching, many
questions concerning the latest landing fees and passenger charges
remain unanswered.

The executive financial director of ACSA, Mr Brooks Mparutsa, stated
during a radio interview on 20 August that the large increases are to
fund CAPEX projects such as the "La Mercy" project. Chairman of BARSA
and general manager for Virgin Atlantic Airways, Peter Barry, is
concerned that while ACSA has emphasised that the "User Pays"
principle does apply to passenger service fees and passengers will
accordingly only pay for airports they utilise, airline passengers
will still be subsidising the building of the new Airport at La Mercy
in KwaZulu Natal along with other local airports which they may never
use. Foreign carriers are worst affected by this distortion of the
"User Pays" principle given that they mostly use O.R. Tambo and Cape
Town International airports.

In a recent press release BARSA explained, "The user pays principle
is an internationally accepted aviation business practice which
effectively dispenses with the single till regime. This means that
tariffs at one airport are not cross-subsidizing development at other
airports, therefore ensuring that projects are able to be self-funding
and commercially viable in their own right."

A similar distortion which is affecting GA in particular, is the
anomaly of charging passenger fees where no service is rendered.
Particular instances of this practice are found at airports such as
George and PE where GA uses its own terminal facilities to arrive and
depart. GA representatives will be requesting an audience with senior
management of ACSA in an attempt to address this issue.

3. DEAT - CLOSURE OF FARM STRIPS AND AIRSPACE RESTRICTIONS.

In response to questions raised by GA representatives during Industry
Liaison Forums since 2006, those present at the ILF meeting held at
the SACAA on 28 August were informed that the Commissioner has lodged
a formal letter with the Minister of Transport requesting inter
departmental liaison with the Department Environmental Affairs &
Tourism (DEAT) at ministerial level. This interaction would address
rising concerns that the DEAT has been circumventing the obligatory
processes with regards to the implementation of the Protected Areas
and the National Environmental Management Acts.

The DEAT is using the Protected Areas Act, No. 57 of 2003 and the
National Environmental Management Act 1998 (NEMA) to unilaterally
deny owners the use of their private strips and to restrict various
airspaces. It could be argued that the DEAT therefore controls
aviation related activities which is in contravention of Section 22
of the Aviation Act of 1962 and Parts 172 and 11 of the Civil
Aviation Regulations of 1997 where these powers are specifically
afforded to the Commissioner of Civil Aviation by the Minister of
Transport. GA representatives have challenged these actions on the
basis that the administration of a CAA function was being usurped by
other Government branches.

Currently operators utilising private airstrips, which have not
passed an Environmental impact study, are doing so illegally.

4. TRANSPONDERS - ATNS CLARIFIES PROCESS

Amidst growing concern relating to the perceived delay in discussions
surrounding the compulsory fitment of transponders, which hinges on a
safety assessment being completed, senior management of ATNS has
clarified the issue. Pending the outcome of the functional hazard
assessment (FHA) at the end of this month, ATNS will schedule a
consultation with industry stakeholders for the end of October 2007.
A collision risk assessment (CRA) will then be conducted by an
international service provider utilising information obtained by the
FHA. The planned completion date for the entire process is end March
2008.

In addition to the impact on surveillance and transponder carriage in
South Africa, this process will also allow ATNS to establish national
target levels of safety in support of the DOT and SACAA. This will
address the requirements specified in ICAO Annex 11, where states are
required to establish target levels of safety for the airspace and
operations within the national airspace.

5. NTCA DOCUMENTATION - FRUSTRATION SETS IN

There has been a growing concern surrounding a number of cases of
late where the SACAA has refused to issue proving flight authorities
for no clear reason. Judging by the comments emanating from the GA
community in general, and the EAA in particular, this matter is going
to require the urgent intervention by senior management of the CAA in
the near future to avoid an increase in user dissatisfaction.

6. IFR ALTERNATES - WORK GROUP FORMED

Subsequent to the promulgation of the 14th amendment of the CARS,
legal IFR for GA flights to the more remote areas of the RSA has been
effectively ruled out by section 91.06.34 (3) which states, "(3) No
pilot-in-command of an aircraft may nominate an aerodrome as an
alternate aerodrome unless there is a procedure for an instrument
approach authorised by the Commissioner, and the aircraft complies
with the requirements for Regulation 91.06.25, and there is
reasonable certainty that the requirements for flights conducted
under IMC authorised by the Commissioner will be complied with." A
work group to deal with this issue was formed at the last Industry
Liaison Forum.

Report compiled by the monitors of AWSA



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[RV4ker (RIP)]

IMHO It all BS. It Pvt ground. I fail to see the logic, but Kortbroek seems to be adamant.

PS
Many of the municiapl strips are unregistered (nop fire service) and thus would also fall into this category as I am sure in old days no EIS was done at any airports never mind rural farm strips.

[Slabfish]

IMHO is that they want to stop g/a all together in SA . THEY will do anything to try to make us powerless and so being no threat to THEM

[Ranger]

So does this mean that every time a farmer puts a plough into the ground he first has to do an environmental impact study? I agree! It's a lot of BS.
Ou Kortbroek kan maar in sy broek loop k*k. Also, TRANSPONDERS? I'd love to do circuits at Cape Town International in a trike.

[The Agent]

I would tell them to piss off it is my land.

They just need a toppic to talk kak thats all the reason for another meeting and food.

[Tumbleweed]

Let them first show us some commitment to;

Public smoking,
'Dronk op Straat'
Braais and drinking in public areas,
Illegal squatting,
Illegal vehicles traveling after 16h30 when all the cops are off duty,
Illegal aliens,
Mass corruption -Lotto, MP's
Arbitory soccer officials entitles to 10%, or 50 mill bonuses for acquiring sponsorship,
e.t.c

[grostek]

In the 80's and 90's the UK also had a government and "special interest groups" that opened their mouths every time a airie flew anywhere from small airports. They, the government and the special interest groups, also could not identify an elevator from a rudder. Much like the new burocrats in CAA here.

Net result was that many airfields were sold by municipalities to land develop[ers for shopping centers or wharehousing or whatever.

These municipalities were also run by the new breed.

At the same time the rules for homebuild and vintage a/c were stepped up another notch in the "safety" read frustration factor.

This lead many homebuilders and vintage aircraft owners to register their aircraft in France where rules are much more pro aviation.

Now my question is what are the rules and regs like in Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana

CC Pocock seems to have done this already judging by his 172 registration.

As far as SA laws are concerned the powers that be will in their infinite lack of responsibility and wisdom invent ever more complex and more costly rules, fees and charges for use of airspace.

You dont need a crystal ball to see this happening just look at past performance and it must be quite obvious that the need (greed) for money by any government department from their customer/clients will not become less rather it will increace.

Just my 2 Zim cents worth of opinion.

Kind regards,

Gunter Rostek.

[Aerosan]

on the flip side - can you think what is going to happen to hanger costs? it will now become prime space!!

This is one of the thing that will make me pack up and leave......suppose that is what they want.

[RV4ker (RIP)]

That is of course only if you "follow" this legislation. I think it all hot air. It will be almost impossible to enforce.

My conversation with them will go something like this....
"In the interests of safety I put a strip on my farm where I do aerial survey, fire patrols, game counting etc. I then had to do precautionary due to high egt/bowel/oil pressure or low fuel pressure etc (insert any number of reasons here). What would you prefer I landed on the national road or someone's house. Now with all the respect it deserves PISS OFF and go an annoy someone else."

PS
There seems to be a cut off date for the EIA. If your strip was there before that there is nothing they can do. Seems photographic evidence is sufficient. Some time on photoshop will solve that problem.

[Stan]

Hi Guys
Dont get yer knickers in a knot too quickly about the farm strips.
Think of the problem from an environmental perspective. Most developers go about chasing money with no regard to the impacts that they have on the environment as a whole. I agree that some of the regulations are a load of BS and the situation is not made easier by the people working with the legislation who do not really understand the spirit of the legislation.

The Environmental Conservation Act (ECA) of 1989 stated that all roads, railways, airfields and associated structures outside the borders of town planning schemes were listed and you had to go through the EIA process. The regulations for this were fased in during 1997 (any such developments before this time were not prosecuted).
Regulations in terms of the National Environmental Management Act also listed these activities but the process for getting authorisation is supposed to be shorter. For instance the construction of an unpaved landing strip shorter than1,4km. and erection of structures for equipment and aircraft storage require a basic assessment. This implies that your consultant must go through the public partipation process and do a basic assessment. If there are no problems identified, this process should be finished within 90 days.

Civil Aviation regulations concerning airstrips would have to be followed in terms of their legislation as well.

I hope this helps. If you have specific queries in terms of the environmental legislation, I can try to answer them as the section working with these things in Limpopo are just down the passage from my office.

I do not think that they will just close down all the existing airfields. The law enforcement guys have more serious problems to attend to.

[RV4ker (RIP)]

Stan
While I accept your argument I still fail to see why do I need an impact assessment at all for a strip on a 5000HA farm? My closest neighbour is 9km away? If he is full of Sh!t (like one of them is) they will simply refuse and come up with some BS as to why we can't do it.

Although intention may have been good I think the wording specifically in relation to rural farm type strips is poor. Where it affects people directly (like small plots or in urban type area's) I suppose it is fair, but in the sticks I am not so sure.

[Rocketman]

The enviro boys tried this a while ago to lift the restricted hight over Kruger park to 3000ft agl this was quickly corrected by the areo club and the hight stayed at 1500ft agl, the farm strip issue is illegel in term of the law as one law controdicts another and if we want to go back to 1937 and study the old laws that are still inforce it becomes a very big cock up and then dont forget the constitutional laws that over rule most laws, I thank you Nelson, there are over 3200 private strips in SA that we know of so if the CAA doesent do somthing about this BS problem the privete strip owners will have to stand together and challenge this issue in court.
this is know truly a third world country

[Slabfish]

See , I told you guys he a spy You just blow your cover Rocketman

[Arnulf]

See , I told you guys he a spy You just blow your cover Rocketman

He must be a very intelligent spy. Look how fast he picked up the english language. Participating in the forum, and interacting with people that speak a very pure Queens English obviously also helped.

Regards,
Arnulf

[andreb]

I say %$%# to them all...keep flying. They cant even control petty crime, never mind enforce this.