tame TIMES - Alberton
A FRESH APPROACH TO LOCAL NEWS 28 September 2021
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FlySafair Flight Carrying 164 People ‘Came Very Close’ To Mid-Air Collision
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Alberton And Most Of Gauteng Without Water
SACAA REVEAL ’30-METRE CLOSE SHAVE’ BETWEEN TWO JETS A student pilot operating a small aircraft learnt a lesson he’d never forgot last month, after he came within just over 30 metres of making contact with a Boeing 737 during a mix-up at an Eastern Cape airport. The FlySafair flight had 164 people on board, and only just managed to avoid disaster. The student pilot behind the controls of the microlight apparently had ‘an excellent grasp of the English language’, so air traffic control officials were baffled when he failed to understand the most basic of commands – after he was told to make a right turn to avoid the oncoming FlySafair jet, the 33-year-old learner went left instead. This appeared to put both planes on a collision course with each other, as the commercial airliner continued its descent. For one terrifying moment, ATC saw a ‘loss of separation’ between the aircraft. This means that there was no telling them apart on the radar, given their extremely close proximity to each other. Thankfully, the worst-case scenario was avoided – by the barest of margins. There were no injuries to report, and both flights made safe landings. The SA Civil Aviation Authority has not
Residents across Gauteng province and Rustenburg in the North West province can expect severely restricted water supply as a result of a power outage at a water treatment plant.
attributed any blame to either pilot, and their investigation is still ongoing. The student pilot, meanwhile, still has his license to fly as a learner. “On wednesday morning, 25 august 2021 at 7:21, a piper pa-28r-200 (prima 285) aircraft with registration zs-ptv and a boeing 737400 (flysafair 142) aircraft with registration zs-jre were both approaching east london aerodrome (fael) at about the same time.” “The aerodrome instructed prima 285 (zsptv) to make a right turn to allow flysafair 142 (zs-jre) to land after air traffic control
(atc) cleared it for landing on runway 11 at fael – however, the pilot of prima 285 (zsptv) deviated from atc’s instruction and turned left instead. The deviation from instructions led to a loss of separation between the aircraft.” “Flysafair 142 (zs-jre) landed safely and, thereafter, vacated the runway. Prima 285 (zs-ptv) conducted one touch-and-go landing, reported safely airborne and, thereafter, routed outbound via keyser’s beach. No injuries resulted from this serious incident and neither aircraft sustained damage.”
The pollution on the country’s rivers threatens water security. Play your part by preventing the pollution of freshwater resources by cleaning up streams, dams, canals and any freshwater resources. water & sanitation Department: Water and Sanitation REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
Rand Water’s Zuikerbosch pump station and water treatment works have been impacted by a power supply interruption from Eskom’s Snowden high voltage sub-station. It’s understood that the substation’s transmission lines were affected by a veld fire on Sunday (26 September 2021) afternoon. Eskom has managed to restore power to its substation in the early hours of Monday morning. Rand Water however warned that it could take up to two days for it to pump adequate water to supply Gauteng. As a result of this power outage, Rand Water’s chief operator Mahlomola Mehlo said it lost 60% of its production capacity. “There is a huge likelihood that there will be little to no water at all until we get this problem out of the way,” he said. Even before this outage, Rand Water was already battling to meet demand and it was once again urging residents to use water sparingly as reservoir levels decline.