First Arrival to St.Helena waves it wings to the Saints

snubbleste

How does one flap the wings like so @ 0:15?

Also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r45J5JbzfxY

thomil

Doesn't look intentional, to be honest. Looks more like she got hit by some gusts that caused the wing to flex. It was pretty windy after all. f you check the landing attempts, the pilots had quite a job on their hands to get the aircraft down.

Great video, by the way. Thanks for sharing that.

snubbleste

Well the first one is a fly past - notice the wheels are not down. I assume it is deliberate to flex the wings to say hello as it is the first time a commercial plane landed and there was a big turnout.

logie101

Thanks for the video. That is really interesting that they are opening the airport in St Helena it is so remote. I wonder were the nearest alternate airport is.

Flapping of wings is an old tradition. Usually following a display a pilot would "wag" the wings to signify the display is over and say goodbye.

If I ever do a low pass or two in a light aircraft I always rock the wings to signify goodbye.

smurfjed

I assume it is deliberate to flex the wings

Rolling the wings and flexing them are two different things, I doubt that they intentionally intended to flex them like that and its just the forces acting on the wing at that time that created the flexing momentum.

Now this is rolling the wings.

Charlie-Bravo

^^^^^ GULP!

L1011

logie101 wrote: »

I wonder were the nearest alternate airport is.

Ascension Island I believe.

Tabnabs

Potential routes

Airlines may operate services to London, Cape Town and Johannesburg, although the announcement on 16 March 2015 only envisaged services to Johannesburg.

On October 9, 2015, the Government of Saint Helena and the Ascension Island Government announced a connection between the two islands. The connection will be flown by Comair using a Boeing 737-800. The flight will take about two hours to Wideawake Airfield. Comair’s air services between St Helena Airport and OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg are scheduled to commence in late May 2016 to coincide with the official opening of the airport on 21 May 2016.[22]

Atlantic Star Airlines operated by TUIfly has announced an intention to operate charter flights from London-Gatwick via Gambia (possibly starting May 2016)[23] using a Boeing 737-800 (an aircraft requiring fairly long runway).

This leaves Lubango Airport in Angola at a distance of 1,300 miles (2,100 km) as the next best diversion option for which every inbound aircraft must carry enough fuel reserve, limiting its load capacity. Inbound aircraft can have heavier load and more fuel if the takeoff is at a large airport like Johannesburg, compared to outbound. Outbound aircraft have the option to carry more load and less fuel and do an extra fuel stop in Namibia, for example.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Helena_Airport

Tenger

astrofluff wrote: »

^^^^^ GULP!

This video has been presented as "aircraft nearly crashes on takeoff" several times on the internet.
It was in the fact the first B748F for CargoLux. It was a deliberate show-off on climb out by the flight crew, they were waving goodbye to the Boeing crew as a thank you for their new baby.

As for St.Helena.....one of the last properly 'remote' places in the world. It finally gets an airfield. The world has got just a little smaller yet again.


Definitely looks like the wings are getting a little ground effect of the high ground just before the threshold, it clears up before touchdown.

On a related note....am I correct in saying that this is Comair, the South African based BA franchise?

thomil

Tenger wrote: »

On a related note....am I correct in saying that this is Comair, the South African based BA franchise?

Roger that. From what I've been able to find out, they'll operate one weekly roundtrip from Johannesburg on Saturday. The Aircraft will continue to Ascension Island once a month, according to Saint Helenas Governor Mark Capes.
There will also be a flight from London Luton via Banjul to Saint Helena, operated by TUIFly on behalf of Atlantic Star Airlines. I'm not holding my breath for that connection, however. Seems a bit too far-fetched.

J.pilkington

Tabnabs wrote: »

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Helena_Airport

Great read, mad to think they spent £200m on an airport for a population of 7k, but suppose they are so remote it's essential. Hope it works out for them

bkehoe

snubbleste wrote: »

Well the first one is a fly past - notice the wheels are not down. I assume it is deliberate to flex the wings to say hello as it is the first time a commercial plane landed and there was a big turnout.

Nothing deliberate about the flexing in the wings there; its just an extremely challenging and windy airport due to the topography (runway beside mountains and one end has a cliff!). If you watch any aircraft on approach on a windy day you'll see the wings flex a lot.

ElNino

bkehoe wrote: »

Nothing deliberate about the flexing in the wings there; its just an extremely challenging and windy airport due to the topography (runway beside mountains and one end has a cliff!). If you watch any aircraft on approach on a windy day you'll see the wings flex a lot.

I think there was a touch of Nostradamus about that comment. It looks like the new airport has turned out to be a total disaster. St Helena airport delayed due to danger of high winds

roundymac

Ya, read somewhere that there is windscheer on approach.

josip

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but it seems like the most appropriate place for this

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-41620003

etselbbuns

Flights are ridiculously expensive though £800 return to JNB on an Embraer E190.
4,600 miles return

LXFlyer

A once weekly flight with reduced seating capacity (68 initially on an EMB-190) to an isolated island is always going to be pricey.

Flight SA 8131 due to land just before 15:00 Irish time.

monkey lover

Landed first time according to FlightRadar

Bsal

Not a very pleasant approach

LXFlyer

All went perfectly today.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-sthelena/tears-and-joy-on-st-helena-as-worlds-most-useless-airport-finally-opens-idUKKBN1CJ0QF

The aircraft is overnighting on st Helena to facilitate the official launch of the service.

L1011

Think the price is similar to the boat; but so much faster and more frequent.

The effort required to sustain life on St Helena makes me not feel as guilty about the comparative shiny buttons it costs the state (above the average) to provide services on the island I'm from

Gerrup Outta Dat!

No demand for a flight to DUB lol?

Spanish Eyes

Well I am going to admit my ignorance. I always thought St. Helena was overseas French Territory given Napoleon's exile and death there.

However, I learned today that is a British Overseas territory like Gibraltar.

You learn something new every day.

I wouldn't mind a direct flight to Ajaccio or anywhere in Corsica. Sounds like a very interesting and quite mysterious place, and the birthplace of Napoleon too.