By Rob Russell
Despite the scepticism of many people, primarily from within the local aviation industry, it is all go at Wineland's Airport. Two significant steps have been taking place over the last few weeks.
The dogged determination of local ATNS management to put every obstacle they can think of to hinder general aviation, at Cape Town International, highlights the urgent need for another suitable airfield in the greater Cape Town area, capable of handling general aviation aircraft.
Wednesday the 20th of November saw a major step forward in the completion and acceptance of the Environmental Impact Assessment, with an open day at Goedgeleven farm, close to the Winelands Airfield.
To complete the process, legislation requires that the applicant hold a public open day, where the public is invited to see the EIA and Winelands management was available to discuss the airport and take questions from those who attended. In addition to Wineland's management, experts from the consulting Company were also there to address and answer questions, from those that attended.
Flightline Weekly attended the open day and it was good to see so many local people in attendance. Listening to some of the questions being asked, it was more of a “find out what is going on”, than many genuine concerns. Unfortunately, it was evident the greater aviation community did not take this opportunity, to meet with Wineland's management, albeit at an informal level.
Flightline Weekly gained the impression that most of the local population is very much in favour of this development and the work opportunities the airport can create. Added to this, is the City of Cape Town’s recent decision to develop the Bellville CBD, as a second CBD, within the greater Cape Town area, so the development of another airport in the Western Cape has taken on a sense of urgency. The event was managed by PHS Consulting, a well-known local company specialising in the EIA arena. (More info can be found on their Company at www.phsconsulting.co.za )
Following the opening day, the next step is for interested, and concerned, parties to provide comments on the plan. In terms of Section 24O (2) and (3) of the National Environmental Management Act, they have 30 days to provide comment, from the announcement of the open day, ie up to and inclusive of 13 December 2024
Elsewhere, Winelands Management has been busy consulting the local aviation community with a view to developing the control zone around the airfield. It is evident that from the onset Winelands wants to engage with the greater community to find out what they want and what their fears about the vastly expanded airport are. Several meetings have been held over the past months and Winelands has gone to great lengths to proactively engage with all the operators, both at Winelands and also from the surrounding general aviation airfields, of which there are many. Meetings were held with the flying clubs and pilots from Morningstar and Stellenbosh – they being the bigger airfields and potential opposition to Winelands, from a general aviation point of view. Included in this process were the SAAF from both Ysterplaat and Langebaan, as well as ATNS, from Cape Town. Several senior ATCs attended these workshops and were able to provide much input, unlike their management who just sat there and gave no input. Also invited and attending were members of the local model flying community - they have a facility near Winelands, as well as several commercial drone operators, who are involved in aerial spraying of local farmlands.
Farmers from the local area were also invited, as flight operations could potentially impact their farming. During the late winter months, many wheat farmers make extensive use of crop sprayers and they were concerned that this might not be possible, as the new airport development takes place. Winelands management has gone to great lengths to engage with these farmers and crop spraying pilots to see how to manage this. Interestingly, part of the land acquisition programme followed by Winelands, was buying farmlands around the present airfield. Management has indicated they wish to carry on farming the land, they will not be using for the airfield, by leasing the land out to other farmers in the area.
The meetings have been very productive and successful and involved some robust discussions. Special mention must be made of Derek Lord, a well-known local pilot, for the amazing work that he has put in. He has been wearing three caps – as a member of the Stellenbosch Flying Club, a member of the greater general aviation community and also as an airline pilot. The amount of work and effort he has done is quite amazing and Winelands are very grateful for all this work.
After several meetings, under the Chairmanship of Mark Wilkinson and Hein Reid, several proposals have been put to paper and Winelands is busy signing an agreement with a procedural airspace design company to put these various proposals in drawing form, for future discussion and development.
Flightline Weekly has been able to attend several of these meetings and it is amazing to see the level of commitment of many of the participants. One thing that did come up from the last meeting, towards the middle of November, is that the airspace around Cape Town, and in particular under the controlled airspace, is no longer very user-friendly and in need of an update and modernisation. A robust discussion was held and many ideas were put on the table. The ATNS controllers were very much in agreement with this and now is the ideal opportunity for the airspace to become more user-friendly and efficient, considering the last update was in the late 1980s.
Amongst the discussion points, was how to integrate IFR movements to and from Winelands into the present Cape Town TMA. Again there were some interesting discussions and some interesting proposals, requiring much thinking out of the box, were put forward. Another major point of concern, to the local VFR general aviation community, was how aircraft would find their way through/around the Winelands airspace, ie routing to and from Morningstar to and from Stellenbosch, at present a very popular and well-used route. Some interesting proposals were put on the table, and it seems a manageable solution has been found to this.
Whilst it is not going to be possible to satisfy everyone, it is pleasing to see how proactive Winelands management is in engaging the operators to come up with a workable plan. All too often airport designers come up with airspace which they think works for them and does not address the concerns of local operators.
Exciting times lie ahead for the airport development, as more people from both within and out of the local aviation community come on board. Winelands management is coming under pressure to produce a successful product, to the benefit of all the operators, and indeed the surrounding area.
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