More VIP planes for SA?

Written by Leon Engelbrecht   

The Department of Defence (DoD) may acquire more long-range very important person (VIP) aircraft after an incident on Monday last week that saw a Reserve Force Douglas DC9 carrying Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe make an emergency landing.  

Deputy defence and military veterans minister Thabang Makwetla this week said the DC9 had been forced to land at an unlit and unmanned airfield in Gbadolite in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at night in order to refuel as bad weather prevented it from touching down in Bangui in the Central African Republic.

The DoD said in a statement explaining the incident that Motlanthe was returning home from Libya where he had led the South African delegation to a Special Session of the African Union Assembly. 

"The flight departed Libya for a planned refuelling stop in Bangui the Central African Republic. On approaching Bangui, the weather was overcast and the visibility was very low," the statement added. The government Bua news service added that Deputy Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Sue van der Merwe and Makwetla himself were apparently also aboard.  

"The aircraft made three approaches to Bangui airport before diverting to Gbadolite ... the official alternative to Bangui on a flight planning based on 45 minute homing and holding," the DoD added.

"Gbadolite airport is a recognized airport and was the nearest suitable diversion airfield with the capacity to accommodate a DC9 aircraft. "While the airport does not have runway lights and the pilots were unable to make radio contact with the ground control, the aircraft did not have sufficient fuel to continue to another airport. The pilots had to make a forced landing at Gbadolite.

"One of the rear tyres burst on landing. This did not impair the ability of the pilots to control the aircraft. The tyre was replaced on the ground by the aircraft engineer. There was no damage to the aircraft", the statement added.

"We wish to reiterate that at no point was the safety of the Deputy President and his delegation unduly compromised."

The DC9, identified by aviation enthusiasts as ZS-PYB belongs to Mantuba Executive Jet, a charter company based at Lanseria Airport west of Johannesburg. It was being flown by its crew in their capacity as Air Force Reserve officers under the long-established "air commando" system in terms of which reserve force pilots provide their own aircraft when tasked.  

Reuters reports that Gbadolite was once the gateway to DRC dictator Mobutu Sese Seko's palatial jungle retreat but has since fallen into ruin. DRC Transport Minister Matthieu Pita told the news service the DC9 "had just 35 minutes of fuel remaining" hen it landed, "so they couldn't go any further."

"The pilot took the risk, and, thank God, everything went well. There were no injuries and no damage," Pita added. The aircraft was surrounded on landing by DRC troops as well as by peacekeepers from the UN force there known as MONUC.   

It is not clear why an air commando aircraft was used rather than a VIP transport from the SA Air Force's 21 Squadron that is tasked with transporting government leaders. The squadron has a number of VIP transports on inventory including the presidential Boeing Business Jet (ZS-RSA) known as "Inkwazi" (Eagle), a Dassault Falcon 900 and two Dassault Falcon 50s. But only the Boeing can fly transcontinental distances. The Falcons all have to land at last once in central Africa when flying to Europe or Mediterranean rim countries.        

"It is a matter which the Defence Force has always raised. It's undesirable that we only have one long-range plane that the Presidency is using, the Inkwazi," said Makwetla. "We have always said that is not enough, it's not sufficient," he added, "the point is that the Presidency needs to have planes that we, as an Air Force, can use to take them to their destinations without risking their lives in the manner in which it almost happened."

The DoD in its statement expressed "the gratitude of the South African government to the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, MONUC, the people of Gbadolite, and the South African Embassy in the DRC for their assistance and cooperation."

It also thanked the "SAAF crew of the DC9 for their professional conduct throughout."Last year the SAAF spent 20% of its flying hours on VIP missions. 

Source: DefenceWeb