Gunship
30th Jun 2002, 03:54
Eagle lands - in aardvark hole :eek:
Erika Gibson
Pretoria - South Africa's embattled Rooivalk attack helicopter programme came under renewed pressure when a production model made a forced crash landing near Pretoria on Friday.
Nobody was injured in the crash, but the helicopter was extensively damaged. The arms shelves, the left shock absorber and the left cylinder took a beating.
The helicopter is the first of nine production models flown by 16th Squadron based at Bloemspruit air base outside Bloemfontein. It has recently been upgraded by Denel Aviation in Kempton Park.
Chief project officer for helicopter programmes Colonel Botes Olivier says the upgrading was necessary to accommodate advanced arms systems on the helicopter.
The Rooivalk's first serious accident
Petrie van Zyl, a Denel Aviation test pilot and a flight engineer, undertook a test flight on Friday morning in the Bronkhorstspruit area.
During the flight Van Zyl executed a manoeuvre: suddenly stalling in mid air. But the helicopter kept losing power and crash-landed in an aardvark hole.
Olivier says a cursory inspection did not show any damage to the air frame. The air force and Denel Aviation will investigate the cause of the crash.
This is the first serious accident involving a Rooivalk, which is an indication of the helicopter's exceptional survival design, Olivier says.
The crashed helicopter has recorded almost 400 flight hours and the nine production models have a registered a combined 3 200 flight hours.
Nobody wants it
The Rooivalk programme, running for the past 15 years, is currently fighting for survival after no country has shown interest in buying the aircraft.
Malaysia was interested at one stage and millions of rands were spent on marketing in that country. But when most of Malaysia's major armament upgrading programmes have been announced, the Rooivalk didn't appear on any of the shopping lists, and it would seem the possibility of orders from that country have faded.
The Rooivalk programme has recently been in the news after a carefully planned burglary of computer hard drives with the aircraft specifications. No arrests have been made as yet.
Several Rooivalk experts have recently resigned from Denel Aviation. Leader of the design team Ian Wagstaff - generally regarded as the linchpin of the programme - has also left Denel's service.
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/Gauteng/0,1113,2-7-829_1206299,00.html
Erika Gibson
Pretoria - South Africa's embattled Rooivalk attack helicopter programme came under renewed pressure when a production model made a forced crash landing near Pretoria on Friday.
Nobody was injured in the crash, but the helicopter was extensively damaged. The arms shelves, the left shock absorber and the left cylinder took a beating.
The helicopter is the first of nine production models flown by 16th Squadron based at Bloemspruit air base outside Bloemfontein. It has recently been upgraded by Denel Aviation in Kempton Park.
Chief project officer for helicopter programmes Colonel Botes Olivier says the upgrading was necessary to accommodate advanced arms systems on the helicopter.
The Rooivalk's first serious accident
Petrie van Zyl, a Denel Aviation test pilot and a flight engineer, undertook a test flight on Friday morning in the Bronkhorstspruit area.
During the flight Van Zyl executed a manoeuvre: suddenly stalling in mid air. But the helicopter kept losing power and crash-landed in an aardvark hole.
Olivier says a cursory inspection did not show any damage to the air frame. The air force and Denel Aviation will investigate the cause of the crash.
This is the first serious accident involving a Rooivalk, which is an indication of the helicopter's exceptional survival design, Olivier says.
The crashed helicopter has recorded almost 400 flight hours and the nine production models have a registered a combined 3 200 flight hours.
Nobody wants it
The Rooivalk programme, running for the past 15 years, is currently fighting for survival after no country has shown interest in buying the aircraft.
Malaysia was interested at one stage and millions of rands were spent on marketing in that country. But when most of Malaysia's major armament upgrading programmes have been announced, the Rooivalk didn't appear on any of the shopping lists, and it would seem the possibility of orders from that country have faded.
The Rooivalk programme has recently been in the news after a carefully planned burglary of computer hard drives with the aircraft specifications. No arrests have been made as yet.
Several Rooivalk experts have recently resigned from Denel Aviation. Leader of the design team Ian Wagstaff - generally regarded as the linchpin of the programme - has also left Denel's service.
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/Gauteng/0,1113,2-7-829_1206299,00.html