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Thread: RVSM in Africa
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Old 6th Jun 2004, 18:16
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Radar Pete
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Not sure about Egypt unless they fell under the auspices of MECMA (Middle East monitoring agency). The MECMA region has successfully implemented RVSM. It took a number of years but is now ok. ICAO has stipulated that any region opening to RVSM must have a monitoring agency to run things. This dubious task has been delegated to SA - read ATNS. Considering the task of getting Africa up to speed in terms of AIP ammendments alone is one huge task. The budget set aside is less than a tenth of what is required and the staffing is another tenth (3 people). The current stats for RVSM compliant a/c in Africa is about one third of a/c are compliant.

In reality, with the right budget and staff, RVSM might be up and running in 2 years time. With current staff and budget........you decide. South America got going with about US$25 million, the Africa budget is under US$1 million.

It is not merely a case of declaring your airspace RVSM. The ICAO requiremnt is quite detailed and explicit. The whole process takes man hours, money and for states to agree on procedures. What must be prevented is states allowing non-compliant a/c flying with compliant a/c within RVSM at 1000', the risks are far to great.
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