View Full Version : RVSM in Africa
What do you guys & girls think of the proposed introduction of RVSM on 25 Jan 2005 in Africa & the RSA?
406pilot
5th Jun 2004, 06:45
hi bro...
im relatively young,and i thought id never live long enough to RVSM and AFRICA in the same sentence,but i suppoe u did it...and guess wht so did i just now.
i live and fly in wht "cannot" be called the deepest and darkest part of africa i.e. TANZANIA but guess what...RADAR was introduced a few months ago with so much controversy,and they guys are still practising how to use it, if they havent broken it by now..many aircraft still flying around without x-ponders,and some operators think its a waste of time/money to install.
of course things are different in RSA and KENYA...
STILL WANNA PUT RVSM AND AFRICA IN THE SAME SENTENCE?
no more 406pilot
planecrazi
5th Jun 2004, 14:09
AFRICA RVSM (http://www.aircraftinvestmentgroup.com/article_rvsm.htm)
I seem to think that the Egyptians already have RVSM airspace or it is a change over point, but according to this chart on the link, RVSM is already in Africa, but under the heading of Middle East.
Radar Pete
6th Jun 2004, 18:16
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.
Taikonaut
8th Jun 2004, 19:38
Moroccan and Canaria (Canary Islands) airspace are also RVSM and has been for the past few years now.
As far as the rest? I don't see how it would be possible since there are no working VHF or radar for the most part...:uhoh:
spacedaddy
10th Jun 2004, 14:11
Talk about selling a pair of shoes to a fish - RVSM for Africa? This is being driven by IATA being pushed by the European carriers
(maybe a bit of help from SAA). The guise is better fuel efficiency and a mandate from ICAO (which doesn't really give a s#!t) but the real reason is probably to kill competition due to the average $300,000 to retrofit older aircraft. By the way do 20 jumbos saving 1 or 2% outweigh 300 aircraft flying at 280 and below?
Fact: The U.S has more traffic in 1 day than all of Africa does in 1 month and to date they don't have RVSM. If they pull this off they gotta broker the sale of the White House for me.
SD
planecrazi
10th Jun 2004, 14:24
Just flown through the Cairo FIR early hours of this morning for an hour, FL330. The entry points marked on the Jeppessen as ME RVSM (Middle East), so it is there and working. The point is, RVSM is in Africa and Cairo has it. Also heard other aircraft not being RVSM approved, being held down below FL290.
126,7
10th Jun 2004, 14:42
I think we can safely say that RVSM will not be seen in Africa south of the Sahara in our lifetime.
Countries can't afford to hire and train ATCs let alone buy radios, radars etc etc. SA might be the only place where RVSM might have a chance, but I doubt it has any real priority. The traffic doesn't really warrant it.
As far as the rest of Africa is concerned: The infrastucture is too lacking to even think of RVSM. The gap is just too big.....
Itswindyout
10th Jun 2004, 15:24
As of two months ago...my last jaunt, there was no RVSM in Egypt.....I am told some of the aircraft have altimeters that work, and some crew that can set the alt preselector...so there is hope.....
If the Ukraine can do it then anyone can. (should be able to)...
just re-read stand and PlanCrazi has been there more recently...I still maintain my "altitude" about the remainder of my post.