St. Helena. too windy

Author
Discussion

CoolHands

18,672 posts

196 months

Sunday 1st January 2017
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hidetheelephants said:
How do you test a runway before it's built? That's a clever trick.
Maybe, take readings using computers & stuff

aeropilot

34,657 posts

228 months

Sunday 1st January 2017
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CoolHands said:
Also, what moron designed and built this without testing it?
All in the report linked to earlier.

saaby93

32,038 posts

179 months

Sunday 1st January 2017
quotequote all
CoolHands said:
hidetheelephants said:
How do you test a runway before it's built? That's a clever trick.
Maybe, take readings using computers & stuff
I seem to remember they did that with the second severn crossing too yes

maffski

1,868 posts

160 months

Tuesday 24th January 2017
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Airlink to bid for direct flights to St Helena

Purchasing new E170 and E190 aircraft.

Puggit

48,464 posts

249 months

Wednesday 3rd May 2017
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First commercial flight is en route from Cape Town. Stopping at Namibe in Angola for fuel:

https://www.flightradar24.com/SA8878/d43503d

2fast748

1,095 posts

196 months

Wednesday 3rd May 2017
quotequote all
Puggit said:
First commercial flight is en route from Cape Town. Stopping at Namibe in Angola for fuel:

https://www.flightradar24.com/SA8878/d43503d
Good timing.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/may/02/ru...

FourWheelDrift

88,549 posts

285 months

Wednesday 3rd May 2017
quotequote all
2fast748 said:
Argentinians thinking about this...

Puggit

48,464 posts

249 months

Wednesday 3rd May 2017
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Just landed at first time of asking - not exactly a short journey!

Puggit

48,464 posts

249 months

Wednesday 3rd May 2017
quotequote all
Flight was carried out in an SAA Avro RJ85. Altantic Star were removed from the tender process: http://www.atlanticstarairlines.com/single-post/20...

Chrisgr31

13,485 posts

256 months

Wednesday 3rd May 2017
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2fast748 said:
Why does it take so long to fix it?

scsracing

81 posts

96 months

Wednesday 3rd May 2017
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Chrisgr31 said:
Why does it take so long to fix it?
Potholes is a understatement, runway was due a overhaul in 2018 as it is long overdue.

RWD cossie wil

4,319 posts

174 months

Wednesday 3rd May 2017
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The main problem is that the Asi runway has been eroded from underneath by the tides.... although two years is an absolute joke to get it fixed, could be plenty faster if the Gov put their hands in their pockets!

ecsrobin

17,127 posts

166 months

Saturday 14th October 2017
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Scheduled flights have begun to St Helena http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41620003

CoolHands

18,672 posts

196 months

Saturday 14th October 2017
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So they haven’t actually done anything to solve the problem? And how many of the islanders can actually afford a ticket. Love to see the passenger numbers (not the one that includes all the freebies) after 1 year.

maffski

1,868 posts

160 months

Monday 16th October 2017
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The ship wasn't much cheaper (and only then the worst internal windowless cabins), plus you had to share a cabin and it took 4-5 days each way to Cape Town - so islanders working off the island would need at least 3 weeks holiday each time they wanted to go back.

Even if it doesn't become profit making the subsidy for the airport won't be any higher than the ship was and the utility for the islanders will be much greater.

papa3

1,415 posts

188 months

Monday 16th October 2017
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We lived on St Helena for a few years before the airport project was announced and during its construction. We witnessed the test flights but returned to the UK a couple of years back. It was great to see the commercial flights commence this week.

Prior to flights the RMS was a 3 day sailing from Ascension or 6 days from Cape Town. Costs of the flights (early bookings) are marginally cheaper than the cheapest accommodation on the RMS.

Aside from tourism the access to emergency medical care will make a massive difference to those on island. I recall several cases where patients were evacuated on passing freighters, cargo ships and even a yacht.

The rumors about RAF St Helena started early and have persisted throughout the build. Much like Ascension I suspect the logistical support for air operations would be the greatest hurdle. Whilst the local bulk fuel has ample storage for commercial craft the demands of military aircraft would soon consume it.

In terms of cost the RMS was massively subsidised by the UK and so are the flights. The original spec called for a larger aircraft but the wind shear issue forced the use of a smaller aircraft that could touch down further into the runway (AIUI).

Junior Bianno

1,400 posts

194 months

Tuesday 17th October 2017
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Great pic in The Guardian. Give you an idea of the size of task building it was, and why other orientations probably didn't work


saaby93

32,038 posts

179 months

Tuesday 17th October 2017
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papa3 said:
the wind shear issue forced the use of a smaller aircraft that could touch down further into the runway (AIUI).
Ah - thats how they solved it
Great pic above

The green route may be less prone to sheer, but if it was old Hong Kong theyd have adopted the orange one


bloomen

6,908 posts

160 months

Saturday 29th December 2018
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https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2018/12/...

This was recently posted and it looks like all is deffo not well still.

There've been tales of epic flight delays due to low cloud and utterly useless handling of the problems by the airline. It seems quite a few never made it St Helena at all.

It's somewhere I was thinking of going but I don't want to be dicking around in Johannesburg. My dream scenario would be to combine it with a stop on Ascension, or at the least going from Windhoek, but both won't happen any time soon.

thetrickcyclist

239 posts

66 months

Saturday 29th December 2018
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Junior Bianno said:
Great pic in The Guardian. Give you an idea of the size of task building it was, and why other orientations probably didn't work

Some serious civil engineering there once you enlarge the image and think of scale..