Air traffic in Namibia

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Airplane of the protection force for German South West Africa (around 1910–1914)

The air traffic in Namibia started at the beginning of the 20th century in what was then German South West Africa .

In Namibia (as of 2017/18) there are 390 private pilots, 250 professional pilots and 131 airline pilots as well as 127 aircraft mechanics, 45 air traffic controllers , three licensed, 63 registered and 180 other airports . There are 25 nationally registered airlines . 328 aircraft weighing less than 5,700 kilograms, 25 heavier, 73 rotary wing aircraft and 205 microlight aircraft are registered.

history

In 1905, the colonial department of the Foreign Office received, among other things, a proposal from the Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft in Berlin , which recommended tests with the use of hot air balloons . Even before the First World War , around 1911, airplanes, mainly mail planes , were used. They were also used in combat during World War I.

Bruno Büchner is considered a pioneer of aviation in today's Namibia . He was given a double-fold aircraft from the Pfalz-Flugzeugwerke in order to popularize air traffic in the country. With this pressure propeller construction , Büchner carried out the first take-off on May 13, 1914 in Swakopmund and then completed several mail flights between Windhoek , Okahandja and Karibib from May 18 to 27 . Lieutenant Albert Georg von Scheele was the first fighter pilot in German South West Africa in May 1914 . He used an Aviatik BI (destroyed in 1916 and sunk in Lake Otjikoto ). In June of the same year, another aircraft, the Roland steel biplane, arrived in the country (destroyed in 1916), which was operated by Leutnant d. R. Paul Fiedler was flown.

In 1912, the South West African Air Fleet Club was founded, the first air sports club.

Law and administration

The regulating authority for air traffic in Namibia is the Namibia Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). Namibia is a member of the ICAO . The Aviation Industry Association of Namibia (Avianam), founded in 1994 , was the industry representative in aviation until it was transformed into AOPA-Namibia ( Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association ) in 2010. There is also the Namibian National Aero Club as a state-recognized umbrella organization.

Air sports federations and clubs

  • Light Sport and Amateur-build Aircraft Association of Namibia - experimental and do-it-yourself
  • Microlight Association of Namibia - Ultralight
  • Parachute Association of Namibia - Parachute
  • The Soaring Society of Namibia - gliding
Flight model
  • Okakango Radio Flyers
  • Swakopmund Radio Flyers
  • Windhoek Radio Flyers
Gliding
Parachute
  • Desert Sky Divers Club
  • Swakopmund Skydiving Club
  • Tsumeb Skydiving Club

Airports

Aerial view of the Hosea Kutako International Airport

The operator of all eight public airports in the country is the state-owned Namibia Airports Company . National hub is the Eros Airport , an international hub of the east of the provincial capital of Windhoek located Hosea Kutako International Airport . Another international airport is located in Walvis Bay .

Aircraft

Air traffic with helicopters and hot air balloons only plays a subordinate role. Helicopters are mainly used for wildlife counts and by government agencies, including the Namibian Police Force . It is not uncommon to find gyrocopters on farms . The most popular aircraft manufacturers and models are Cessna (especially Cessna 210 and Cessna 208 ) as well as the South African manufacturer Sling and the Australian manufacturer Jabiru .

Gliders are mainly used in the central east of the country, also at international competition level. Namibia is considered to be one of the best areas for gliding in the world. Ultralight aircraft are used to a limited extent, motor gliders are unknown in Namibia.

Air sports equipment , including above all paramotor and parachutes (in Swakopmund) as well as paragliders (on the Schwarzrand ) are mainly used for tourist purposes. The use of drones is strictly regulated and only allowed with government approval. Use in nature reserves , for example, is generally prohibited. Model airplanes are a popular pastime.

The aircraft maintenance and servicing up to the size of an Embraer 145 can be carried out in Namibia. There are nationally and internationally recognized specialist companies in Swakopmund and Windhoek for this purpose. The leading companies are Aviation Center , Desert Air , Namibia Base Aviation , Signa Aviation Services and Skycore Aviation .

Air traffic

Commercially

Commercial air traffic with passengers began with the founding of South West African Airways (SWAA) in 1930. The owner was Junkers , which had won a tender in 1930 to operate mail and passenger flights. The first flight took place in August of the following year under the direction of chief pilot FCJ Fry. instead of. SWAA operated domestic flights and flights from Windhoek to Kimberley in South Africa. As early as 1932, SWAA merged with the South African Union Airways , but flew three more years under its own name. In 1935 SWAA was from South African Airways for a payment of 14,000 Rand adopted.

In 1947, the Administration of South West Africa formed a new airline called South West Air Transport (SWAT). It merged twelve years later with Oryx Aviation to form Suidwes Lugdiens ( Afrikaans for Southwest Air Service ). Another merger with Namib Air followed in 1966 . This name was used for the entire airline from 1978. In 1982 the South African state took over the majority of the shares. Since 1991 the airline as Air Namibia has been the national airline of independent Namibia. This still forms the backbone of Namibian air traffic today (as of 2020) .

Especially since independence, new scheduled airlines have been founded, including Kalahari Express Airlines and Namibia flyafrica , some of which have not operated any flights or have had to cease operations after a short time. Exceptions to this were CityLink , which operated scheduled domestic flights from 2000 to 2008 and 2010 to 2014. In 2018 founded with FlyWestair the Westair Aviation a new airline for national and regional connections.

In addition to the few scheduled airlines, there are numerous charter airlines that operate primarily in the tourist or medical field and operate company flights , especially for Namdeb .

The employees of the commercial airlines are partly organized in trade unions , including the Namibia Transport and Allied Workers Union (NATAU) and Namibia Cabin Crew Union (NCCU). The professional pilots are organized in the Namibia Airline Pilots Association (Napa), the air traffic controllers in the Namibian Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA).

State

F-7 of the Namibian Air Force

The Namibian Air Force as well as airplanes and helicopters in government operations are primarily active in state air transport .

education

The training for private and commercial pilots takes place in numerous flight schools , some of which are state-run. The state-run Namibian Aviation Training Academy is based at Keetmanshoop Airport in Keetmanshoop and Windhoek-Eros Airport. Most of the private flight schools are located at Eros Airport and Swakopmund Airport in Swakopmund .

Aviation accidents

The Directorate of Aircraft Accident Investigation of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport is responsible for investigating aircraft accidents in Namibia .

The largest aircraft accidents in Namibia include the plane crash of a Boeing 707 on South African Airways flight 228 in 1968 with 123 fatalities, the pilot suicide on Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique flight 470 in 2013 with 33 victims and the plane collision off Namibia 1997 with just as many fatalities. Since 2012, 20 aircraft accidents have been registered in Namibia. Namibian-registered aircraft were involved in minor incidents on the ground, including an Airbus A330 from Air Namibia on the evening of November 16, 2019, shortly before departure from Frankfurt for Windhoek, when it collided with a Boeing 777 from Korean Air . On July 1, 2019, the same type of aircraft, also in Frankfurt, was damaged by a staircase car.

literature

  • Oswald Mhlanga, JN Steyn: The aviation industry in South Africa: A historical overview , in: African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure , Issue 5 (4), 2016, ISSN 2223-814X.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Annual Report 2017/18. Namibia Civil Aviation Authority, September 30, 2018, p. 20.
  2. ↑ a b J. OE O Mahncke: Aircraft Operations in the German Colonies, 1911-1916. Military History Society, Issue 12, No. 22, December 2001.
  3. ^ Hans-Otto Meissner: Dreamland Southwest. European book u. Phonoklub, Stuttgart 1969, p. 299.
  4. ^ Peter M. Grosz, Peter Seelinger, Holger Steinle: The Pfalz-Flugzeugwerke GmbH 1913-1919. Silberstreif, Landau 2015, ISBN 978-3-924091-07-1 , p. 29.
  5. ↑ a b Ben R. Guttery: Encyclopedia of African Airlines . Ben Guttery, 1998, ISBN 9780786404957 , p. 135.
  6. ^ SAA takes over the South-West African Airways (SWAA) . February 1, 1935. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  7. ↑ Published DAAI Report. Ministry of Works and Transport. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
  8. ↑ Airplane collision at Frankfurt Airport. FAZ, November 17, 2019.
  9. ↑ News at noon. Hitradio Namibia, July 1, 2019.