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A new micro-light aircraft will be being used on the MCSS
whale shark monitoring programme this year. The current
Aquilla aircraft is being retired after 10 years of
faithful service. Although the ZU-BHH is still perfectly
functional having had a wing change and three engine
changes during the last five years, the Underwater Centre,
who own the aircraft, have decided that it is best to
replace her with a newer version to avoid increased
maintenance costs and potentially lost monitoring time.
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Microlight
ZU-BHH will be replaced this year with a new
Aquilla aircraft being built in South Africa.
Photo Daniel Pascoe. |
The
new aircraft is the latest version of the Aquilla and is
currently nearing completion in South Africa ready to be
air-worthiness tested prior to shipping over to Seychelles
in early July. Being a single-engined aircraft that is
commonly used over the sea, there are a number of
additional safety features incorporated into the design
and fittings of the aircraft to increase the safety of
these operations and make the aircraft less prone to the
affects of working in this environment.
The new Aquilla has a wing span of 10.5 metres and weights
180kg in total when empty. Fitted with the Rotax 582
engine, she has a five hour cruising range and will climb
at a rate of 4 metres per second with two people aboard.
Most importantly for the whale shark monitoring programme
she has a stall speed of only 60kph making this aircraft
ideal for monitoring work.
ZU-BHH while being retired will hopefully go to a good
home, probably a flying school in South Africa which is
where the plane is registered. The new plane will look
very similar to her predecessor and the bright orange wing
colours are being kept the same for easy visual
recognition and safety reasons.
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Microlight
pilots Johan Anderson and Guy Blaine will be
joining us again in August. |
The MCSS whale shark monitoring programme will re-start at
the beginning of August and pilots Johan Anderson and Guy
Blaine will ease the new aircraft into its important role
in locating the biggest sharks in the world. The new
aircraft, like its predecessor, will be loaned free of
charge by the Underwater Centre to MCSS for the whale
shark monitoring programme. The survey data collected are
not only on whale sharks but on a number of marine species
with sightings of cetaceans being sent to the Marine
Mammal Observatory while the location and numbers of fish
traps are processed by the Seychelles Fishing Authority to
help monitor the amount of local fishing pressure in this
fishery.
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