Vermindering van het aantal Agusta A-109BA helicopters

Commissie voor de Landsverdediging  van Woensdag 18 januari 2012 Namiddag

06 Samengevoegde vragen van
- de heer Roland Defreyne aan de minister van Landsverdediging over "de verkoop van vier Agusta A190-helikopters" (nr. 8401)
- mevrouw Karolien Grosemans aan de minister van Landsverdediging over "de verkoop van vier Agustahelikopters" (nr. 8405)
06 Questions jointes de
- M. Roland Defreyne au ministre de la Défense sur "la vente de quatre hélicoptères Agusta A190" (n° 8401)
- Mme Karolien Grosemans au ministre de la Défense sur "la vente de quatre hélicoptères Agusta" (n° 8405)
 06.01 Roland Defreyne (Open Vld): Mijnheer de voorzitter, mijnheer de minister, in 2010 zijn acht Agusta A109-helikopters van het Belgische leger verkocht, omdat ze overbodig werden bevonden. In de pers konden wij nu vernemen dat Defensie nogmaals vier dergelijke helikopters te koop stelt. Het gaat om helikopters die 20 jaar oud zijn en die vanwege technische defecten niet meer in staat zouden zijn te vliegen.

Mijnheer de minister, acht Agustatoestellen werden in 2010 verkocht aan de Brusselse firma MAD Africa Distribution, om onmiddellijk doorverkocht te worden aan het Nederlandse transportbedrijf Van Vliet Trucks

Toont een van deze firma’s opnieuw interesse voor de aankoop van deze vier helikopters?

Hebben reeds andere firma’s hun interesse geuit? Is er een overzicht beschikbaar van potentiële kopers?

Bij de verkoop van de vorige acht toestellen was ook Jordanië geïnteresseerd. Worden de contacten met dit land in het kader van deze verkoop vernieuwd?

Welke verkoopprijs hebt u voor ogen voor deze toestellen?

Is de bestemming van het budget dat via deze verkoop zal vrijkomen bekend?

De voorzitter: Vraag nr. 8405 van mevrouw Grosemans vervalt.

06.02 Minister Pieter De Crem: Collega Defreyne, er zijn zeven A109-helikopters uit gebruik genomen. Drie daarvan zijn in volledige configuratie en kunnen na een grondige inspectie opnieuw luchtvaardig worden gemaakt. Zij blijven eigendom van Defensie als actieve reserve en worden naar behoren gepreserveerd. De vier andere toestellen worden door Defensie te koop aangeboden in de staat waarin zij zich bevinden.

De voorwaarden waaraan potentiële kopers moeten voldoen zijn opgenomen in het bestek. Eén van de belangrijkste voorwaarden is de verplichte ondertekening van het end user certificate. Het is te vroeg om ons uit te spreken over de identiteit van de kandidaat-kopers, daar zij zich nog tot eind januari 2012 kunnen aanmelden.

Naar aanleiding van een bezoekdag op 23 november, hebben alvast twee Belgische en één Nederlandse firma hun interesse kenbaar gemaakt.

De te verwachten verkoopprijs wordt volledig bepaald door de prijzen op de tweedehandsmarkt voor dergelijke toestellen. Defensie kan bijgevolg geen richtgetal geven, daar de verkoopsprocedure nog loopt.

Er werd geopteerd voor een publieksverkoop. De opbrengst van deze verkoop zal conform de begrotingsbepalingen van artikel 2.16.22 van het begrotingsjaar 2012 opnieuw binnen Defensie worden aangewend.

Een verdere vermindering van het A-109-toestellen zal plaatsvinden tijdens deze legislatuur. Hoeveel en wanneer, werd nog niet bepaald, daar dit deel kan uitmaken van verdere rationaliseringen.

In de beleidsvisie die wij vandaag en vorige week hebben besproken, is een vervanging van de A-109-toestellen niet aan de orde.
 06.03 Roland Defreyne (Open Vld): Mijnheer de minister, ik dank u voor uw antwoord.

Het incident is gesloten.
L'incident est clos.

 

New Book : Souvenirs sans gloire : les confessions d’un pilote de ligne

J'aurais pu raconter les vols où j'ai été brillant, génial ou même simplement héroïque. J'ai préféré relater des vols où la chance a pallié mes défaillances. Michel Vanvaerenbergh, ancien instructeur sur Boeing 737, raconte quelques uns de ses souvenirs de plus de 13 000 heures de vol. Quatorze vols, de Bruxelles à Chicago en passant par un vol d'essai avec des pilotes yéménites et par la Varsovie de la Guerre Froide en compagnie d'un ancien Flight Lieutenant de la Royal Air Force. Quatorze nouvelles épiques qui retracent l'histoire d'une époque, celle de la Sabena. Un livre qui s'adresse aux pilotes, bien sûr, mais aussi à ceux qui veulent le devenir et, surtout, à ceux que l'aventure aérienne ne cesse de faire rêver. Michel Vanvaerenbergh est né en 1948. Il vit en France après avoir sillonné l'Europe pendant plus de 20 ans comme pilote de ligne à la SABENA, compagnie aérienne nationale belge.

More details at http://www.edern.be/kerditions/Site/Kerditions/Entrees/2012/1/10_Souvenirs_sans_gloire%2C_les_confessions_dun_pilote_de_ligne.html


Thx to Eric for the information

TV Show BBC2 23/01/2012 22:00 (Belgian time) BBC HD The Real Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines: A Wonderland Film

BBC2 23/01/2012 22:00 (Belgian time) BBC HD 

The Real Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines: A Wonderland Film

Episode 3 of 8, Wonderland, Series 4

Duration: 1 hour

Three days flying around the UK in flimsy machines whose engines can cut out at any time: welcome to the mad, bad and sometimes downright dangerous world of competitive amateur microlighting in the 'Round Britain Rally'.

For those with the daring, skill and sheer nerves to take it on, the Rally is the ultimate test, where the aim is to fly around as much of the country as possible. This is flying at its most basic - and most exhilarating.

This film follows three teams of obsessive microlight enthusiasts who navigate their way across Britain armed with a map and compass, sleeping under the wing, and doing their best to keep their aircraft in one piece - while at the same time clocking up more miles than everyone else.
Microlighters wax lyrical over the poetry of the skies, but they all have tales of brushes with death. Anxious and despairing families look on in resignation as their much loved men folk choose to exercise what seems an irrepressible death wish.

Disaster is never much more than a stalled engine away. As one of the pilots says: 'You're putting your life in the hands of what is effectively a chainsaw attached to a deck chair.' But that won't stop these enthusiasts from taking to their magnificent flying machines in an attempt to capture the true spirit of amateur aviation. < Show less

Three days flying around the UK in flimsy machines whose engines can cut out at any time: welcome to the mad, bad and sometimes downright dangerous world of competitive amateur microlighting in the 'Round Britain... > Show more

Thx Jules for the info

Aircraft preservation : 'Connie' spy plane leaves Camarillo Airport for new home

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ailesetplumes;
Date: Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 8:36 PM
Subject: Fwd: Connie

via J-Luc

 

----------Original Message----------

From: "Joe Danely"
Date: Jan 17, 2012 9:14:24 PM

I wish I had known about the flight......I would have been there. Joe

It took seven years to get the "Connie" Cold War spy plane at the Camarillo Airport into flying condition, but only 45 seconds for it to take off Saturday afternoon.
Preceded by a few Cessnas and Pipers that appeared tiny in comparison, the massive plane with its 123-foot wingspan and distinct three rudders thundered down the runway and lifted effortlessly toward the overcast sky above.
A collective sigh could almost be heard among the 200 or so aviation enthusiasts gathered along the runway. They were witnessing what they felt was a momentous historic event — the last flight of a Connie in the U.S.
"Listen to that rumbling," said Jeff Whitesell of Downey, a pilot with Delta Air Lines, of the plane's total 13,600 horsepower from four engines. "That's power."
Tarzana resident Benny Younesi listened to the smooth, distant rumble as the plane climbed before turning toward its final home at the Yanks Air Museum in Chino. The museum bought the vintage aircraft in 2004.
"It's good to see it go, finally," he said.
The Lockheed EC-121T Warning Star Super Constellation arrived at the Camarillo Airport sometime around 1995 after the late Moorpark resident Wayne Jones bought the plane — spy technology intact — in 1994 and moved it to the airport to be flown in air shows.
In an earlier interview with The Star, Jones said he was amazed to find the plane in one piece because it had been at a salvage yard since 1978 and "somehow this thing slipped through."
Connies initially were designed by Lockheed to be commercial airliners that could carry up to 40 passengers, based on a design from aviator and Trans World Airlines owner Howard Hughes.
The plane, once considered the top of the line, set speed and distance records at one time.
Those speed and distance records and the weight capability caught the eye of the U.S. military, and Connies were slated to become spy planes. Lockheed retrofitted them with the most high-tech surveillance equipment the U.S. had at the time.
During the Cold War, the Korean and Vietnam wars and the Cuban Missile Crisis, Connies often stayed in the air for 23 hours at a time, according to the Yanks museum.
Their radar and surveillance equipment monitored telemetry for satellites, missiles and space shots. They also gathered data on weather, communications and radar signals. At 113.5 feet long, the craft could fit 31 people, two bunks, tables and booths, a kitchenette, a bathroom, seats and lots of technology.
Frank Wright headed the repair effort as restoration operations manager for the Yanks museum, owned by Charles and Judith Nichols. The museum tracks down vintage aircraft to be restored and displayed.
To get to the Chino museum, the Connie needed a ferry permit from the Federal Aviation Administration, showing it was safe for flight, Wright said.
That meant a major overhaul of every system, he said. The crew also had to remove extensive corrosion on the wings and put new skins on the rudders.
Work on the Connie was spread out over seven years, Wright said, as money, weather, time and daylight hours permitted. Six to eight mechanics worked on the plane for weeks at a time, some from the museum's restoration department while others were contracted.
The team included air frame and power plant mechanics and sheet metal experts, Wright said, and included himself, as he also was an aviation mechanic and pilot. The exhaustive job needed each one's specialty, he said.
"We picked the best people capable of getting this plane home safely," Wright said. "It's huge because of the expense, cost and knowledge that the people have had to get together."
An example of just some of the expense was a bill for $10,400 worth of fuel delivered to the plane Friday afternoon. And that was just one of the deliveries, Wright said.
Several of the crew members were there Friday before the plane's final voyage: Bobby Carter of Moreno Valley; Gary Graves of Riverside; Al Malecha of Tucson, Ariz., who piloted the Connie to Chino on Saturday; Timothy Coons, also of Tucson; and Frank Orrantia of Redlands, a volunteer who helped chase down the obsolete parts and deliver them, among other things.
The men talked about the challenges of getting such a retired craft flyable. Lockheed didn't make the parts anymore, they said, so they had to be tracked down. There was limited information on the systems. Working outside meant a full day could be spent on the project only during the summer when daylight held. And the crew would work on it for a while and then not again for two years, and have to redo all the work. It was a labor of love, according to the men.
"It's in your blood to work on these old planes," Coons said.
Inside the old Connie and stuffed inside a desk was a reprinted poem titled "Remembering the Forgotten Mechanic" from an unknown author. The poem reminds the reader that behind the pilot who gets most of the glory is "the greased-stained man with the wrench in his hand" and that "he is the man who put them there."
Camarillo Airport employees got accustomed to seeing the plane in its spot on the runway.
"It's kind of sad to see it go," said Manager Jorge Rubio. He said people driving on Las Posas Road would see the plane and call asking about it, and the staff sometimes would give them a short tour.
"The people interested knew more about the aircraft than we did," Rubio said. "They were usually involved in the war and worked on the aircraft before and wanted to see it again."
Inside, the Connie holds messages from its last crew after its final military flight Oct. 15, 1978.
Jim Davis signed as the last radar technician, and the rest of the crew signed the clear compass panel. Air Force Lt. Col. Dennis Brown signed as "El Supremo," although it was unclear whether he meant the Connie or himself.
On Saturday after the flight, Wright expressed relief that years of effort succeeded in the Connie's flight and arrival in Chino.
"I felt wonderful," Wright said. "I told you it would fly."
© 2012 Ventura County Star. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 

Read more:  http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/jan/14/connie-spy-plane-leaves-camarillo-airport-for/#ixzz1jZuyNZ6Q
- vcstar.com 

Aviation Art

Some digital dream flying objects

http://blog.khamsin.org/tag/Mitchell

http://blog.khamsin.org/

http://www.khamsin.org/






--
Yves Duwelz

Aircraft restoration : Mustang On Ice

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Vintage Wings
Date: Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 7:54 PM

Ladies and Gentlemen Aviators A winter post-oil change run-up of the Vintage Wings P-51D Mustang provides a unique glimpse at operational conditions from the winter of 1944-45. Follow this link to learn more: http://www.vintagewings.ca/en-ca/home.aspx Dave O'Malley, Vintage Wings of Canada If you wish to be added to or removed from our list let us know.