South African Air Force sticks to guns on President Zuma's plan B plane

The SA Air Force has stuck to its guns on the use of standby planes when President Jacob Zuma travels abroad.

The SAAF said it was simply acting responsibly by providing a plan B for the president’s trip.

The extra planes will ensure the president is on time and is safe when he travels, according to the SAAF.

According to weekend media reports an SAA Boeing A340-200 shadowed Zuma's Boeing business jet Inkwazi as far as Las Palmas, Canary Islands, on Zuma's outbound leg to New York to attend a UN Security Council meeting.

A second aircraft, a chartered Bombardier Global Express, was on standby in New York and followed the presidential jet back to South Africa at the conclusion of Zuma's visit.

SAAF said its mandate was to ensure an efficient and safe flight service to the president and his deputy, to avoid any possible embarrassment to the country.

"Departure and arrival times for the entire mission were critically important and standby aircraft in South Africa simply would not have sufficed, taken into consideration the reaction time required over the long distance in this case, over-flight clearance etc."

Recent repairs

There were fears the aircraft could have "unforeseen technical difficulties", it said.

The Inkwazi had been in Switzerland for several months for a major service. Upon its return to South Africa, it was used extensively for training flights to ensure all possible "snags" were fixed.

"Any slightest possible glitch had to be avoided and thus a plan B was put in place, albeit the standby aircraft."

Angering the opposition

The incident riled opposition parties and raised questions about the costs of such arrangements.

DA MP David Maynier said the arrangements were "mind boggling". He called on Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to explain the details of the flight arrangements, in which standby crews were also flown to Las Palmas, to Parliament's defence committee.

On Wednesday, the SAAF said "fresh" crew were made available to take over in a bid to avoid pilot fatigue.

"The aircraft does not have a special rest area facility on board for standby crew and thus could not be accommodated on board," it said.

"A standby crew in South Africa would not have sufficed, due to critical time constraints and reaction time."

Source:  http://www.timeslive.co.za