The Unteleported Man
20th Nov 2000, 10:23
18/11/2000 13:21 - (SA) News 24 (http://news24.co.za)
Danger in Central African skies (http://www.news24.co.za/News24/Africa/Central_Africa/0,1113,2-11-39_942263,00.html)
Kinshasa - Ancient planes, pilots with dubious qualifications and a shoddy air traffic control system: the skies over central Africa have all the ingredients for major air disasters.
On Wednesday, the latest disaster claimed at least 35 lives outside Luanda, Angola, when a Russian-built Antonov-24 (An-24) plunged to the ground in flames. Angolan civil aviation authorities have now banned all civilian Antonov flights.
It was the second major crash of an Antonov plane in central Africa in less than a month. In late October, 48 people were killed in northern Angola when an Antonov-26 went down.
The two-propeller Antonovs - in addition to the An-24 and 26, there are the An-18 and 32 - are used widely across Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), popular for their ability to transport large amounts of freight and to land on almost any kind of runway.
The planes - frequently piloted by Russian or Ukrainian crews - are also durable and easy to repair.
In Congo, aviation authorities grounded a number of private airlines at the beginning of this year after they determined their aircraft were poorly maintained. Many pilot licences and insurance certificates there were from the former Soviet Union - therefore more than 10 years old.
More than 60 private airlines were also temporarily grounded in the DRC in 1999 after authorities complained about the state of their fleets.
Civil aviation companies in the DRC should "improve their level of security and safety, with the goal to reach norms (set by) the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)," DRC Transport Minister Henri Mova said in October.
Visitors to Kinshasa airport could think they were spending time at an aviation museum, instead of a functioning airport.
"When the Russian pilots and their planes - in particular the Antonovs - arrived at the beginning of the 1990s, that is when crashes and air disasters began happening," charged Rudahindwa Butume, president of the Congolese national pilot's union.
Small private airlines have been mushrooming across central Africa, taking advantage of the near-bankruptcy of state airlines.
The liberalisation of the air transport market has also given the private airlines the chance to buy cheap planes from the former Soviet Union, and to find pilots "ready (to do) anything", Rudahindwa said.
When the war in Angola was at its height, "some of them flew up to ten times a day between Kinshasa and Unita (the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) territory to replenish Jonas Savimbi's men", he said.
"It cost 2 000 dollars a flight, and (the pilots) were always drunk," he added.
In Kinshasa, residents still remember the horror of January 8, 1996, when an Antonov could not take off because it was so overloaded.
It plowed through a crowded market that had been illegally thrown up outside the airport perimeter, killing at least 365 people. But Congolese sources put the death toll at more than 800 - many of the victims were sliced to pieces by the propellers or crushed by the plane.
The sources' toll would make the disaster the worst in civil aviation history.
There are more than 180 airports in the DRC, in addition to countless private landing strips, but only 30 are under the authority of the national air traffic control authority.
Many of the airports lack basic communication equipment.
To make matters worse, most of the pilots from the former Soviet Union do not speak any English or French, which makes communicating with air traffic controllers nearly impossible.
Civil aviation authorities claim to have no exact numbers on how many Russian planes fly throughout the DRC, but one official put the number at around 50. - Sapa-AFP
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The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.
Danger in Central African skies (http://www.news24.co.za/News24/Africa/Central_Africa/0,1113,2-11-39_942263,00.html)
Kinshasa - Ancient planes, pilots with dubious qualifications and a shoddy air traffic control system: the skies over central Africa have all the ingredients for major air disasters.
On Wednesday, the latest disaster claimed at least 35 lives outside Luanda, Angola, when a Russian-built Antonov-24 (An-24) plunged to the ground in flames. Angolan civil aviation authorities have now banned all civilian Antonov flights.
It was the second major crash of an Antonov plane in central Africa in less than a month. In late October, 48 people were killed in northern Angola when an Antonov-26 went down.
The two-propeller Antonovs - in addition to the An-24 and 26, there are the An-18 and 32 - are used widely across Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), popular for their ability to transport large amounts of freight and to land on almost any kind of runway.
The planes - frequently piloted by Russian or Ukrainian crews - are also durable and easy to repair.
In Congo, aviation authorities grounded a number of private airlines at the beginning of this year after they determined their aircraft were poorly maintained. Many pilot licences and insurance certificates there were from the former Soviet Union - therefore more than 10 years old.
More than 60 private airlines were also temporarily grounded in the DRC in 1999 after authorities complained about the state of their fleets.
Civil aviation companies in the DRC should "improve their level of security and safety, with the goal to reach norms (set by) the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)," DRC Transport Minister Henri Mova said in October.
Visitors to Kinshasa airport could think they were spending time at an aviation museum, instead of a functioning airport.
"When the Russian pilots and their planes - in particular the Antonovs - arrived at the beginning of the 1990s, that is when crashes and air disasters began happening," charged Rudahindwa Butume, president of the Congolese national pilot's union.
Small private airlines have been mushrooming across central Africa, taking advantage of the near-bankruptcy of state airlines.
The liberalisation of the air transport market has also given the private airlines the chance to buy cheap planes from the former Soviet Union, and to find pilots "ready (to do) anything", Rudahindwa said.
When the war in Angola was at its height, "some of them flew up to ten times a day between Kinshasa and Unita (the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) territory to replenish Jonas Savimbi's men", he said.
"It cost 2 000 dollars a flight, and (the pilots) were always drunk," he added.
In Kinshasa, residents still remember the horror of January 8, 1996, when an Antonov could not take off because it was so overloaded.
It plowed through a crowded market that had been illegally thrown up outside the airport perimeter, killing at least 365 people. But Congolese sources put the death toll at more than 800 - many of the victims were sliced to pieces by the propellers or crushed by the plane.
The sources' toll would make the disaster the worst in civil aviation history.
There are more than 180 airports in the DRC, in addition to countless private landing strips, but only 30 are under the authority of the national air traffic control authority.
Many of the airports lack basic communication equipment.
To make matters worse, most of the pilots from the former Soviet Union do not speak any English or French, which makes communicating with air traffic controllers nearly impossible.
Civil aviation authorities claim to have no exact numbers on how many Russian planes fly throughout the DRC, but one official put the number at around 50. - Sapa-AFP
------------------
The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.