I have been taking interest in the fact that Basil Read Construction has been awarded the tender to build the airport on the island of St Helena. It will be on the opposite side of the island from the main town which is named Jamestown, as the longest flat area is on the east of the island at an elevation of 1000 feet.
The fact that there is no harbour on the island means they have to build one first, sort of the which came first adventure of the chicken or the egg? Then what about when the airport is open, they are talking about using Boeing 737-700 planes, they take around 26,000 litres of fuel, can they re fuel on the island? Not a bad idea but how will they get fuel from Jamestown to the air terminal?
The roads on the island are quaint, many have side pull ins to allow a passing car to move past you, the lanes are narrow, so tanker trucks do not fit the bill, so will it be a long pipe line. Or will it be a fuel terminal off the east side of the island, or will they just fly with full tanks from the African airports and carry less passengers? then just fly back with whats left of the same fuel they started with?
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/737family/pf/pf_700tech.html
There is also the Boeing 737-700 ER series plane, said to carry more fuel and allow about 2450 extra air miles, can it land on the islands 1850 meters of new runway?
Does anyone know?
Check out the link below for some excellent news on the project.
http://www.sainthelenaaccess.com/news/
The blog title? well our Duckling dinghy knows all about St Helena Island, so much so it has carried the crew of Ocean Cloud to the island while being at anchor in Rupert Bay and then hauled out and parked on the island itself! It then traveled to Brasil, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela and all the way back again, on the decks of the Endurance 37 Ocean Cloud.
How nice is that!
Roy
Note, we have had some discussion with Dudley Dix to use this style of dinghy to make a cold moulded new design. The one in the picture is in GRP but the original was a cold moulded hull. Let me know if you fancy building one of this style of boat.
The fact that there is no harbour on the island means they have to build one first, sort of the which came first adventure of the chicken or the egg? Then what about when the airport is open, they are talking about using Boeing 737-700 planes, they take around 26,000 litres of fuel, can they re fuel on the island? Not a bad idea but how will they get fuel from Jamestown to the air terminal?
The roads on the island are quaint, many have side pull ins to allow a passing car to move past you, the lanes are narrow, so tanker trucks do not fit the bill, so will it be a long pipe line. Or will it be a fuel terminal off the east side of the island, or will they just fly with full tanks from the African airports and carry less passengers? then just fly back with whats left of the same fuel they started with?
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/737family/pf/pf_700tech.html
There is also the Boeing 737-700 ER series plane, said to carry more fuel and allow about 2450 extra air miles, can it land on the islands 1850 meters of new runway?
Does anyone know?
Check out the link below for some excellent news on the project.
http://www.sainthelenaaccess.com/news/
The blog title? well our Duckling dinghy knows all about St Helena Island, so much so it has carried the crew of Ocean Cloud to the island while being at anchor in Rupert Bay and then hauled out and parked on the island itself! It then traveled to Brasil, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela and all the way back again, on the decks of the Endurance 37 Ocean Cloud.
Now seen hanging on the back of a Dix 43 made from ply/epoxy construction.
How nice is that!
Roy
Note, we have had some discussion with Dudley Dix to use this style of dinghy to make a cold moulded new design. The one in the picture is in GRP but the original was a cold moulded hull. Let me know if you fancy building one of this style of boat.
