VCU internal meeting on aerial operial operations: Kara, Togo 25 - 28 March 1988

VgU U{TENI\IAT MEETING ON - AERIAT OPERATIOT8 - Kara. TOGO 25 - 28 ltarch 1988 - t At/R. lS0 r.. 9IP[I}lq_98' rEE MEUINS Dr. D. BaIdrTr cha:fumaa, of tbe meeting welcomed the parttcipants and preseuted. the agenda which ras approved (cop;r attached). E. IME AERIAL cot.tnnAcroR 2.1. -Qgera.Ll performance It tas noted that the overal-l perfomance of Evergreen hae inpnoved ; piLots have been cooperative aqd have najltained satisf,actorT uorking relatiouships wLth OCP stafr. Pilots have a1o irrpr,oved their Dari- gationaL and treatment d<ills as they get to know better the terrala aad OCP Deeds. In the eastern zone Lt was noted that ptLots stabili- ty has been an adrmntage in that regard. 2.2. l,Iaragenent and Liaison in Aenobases It is considered that na:ragement of EIII has i-npnoved duriag the coatract p3riod. Itrowever, OCP uould prefer that local ranageoent had a greatydelegation of authority fr.on m HQ. It ms agreed there wouLd be fonnal guaterly aeetings betueea the PnoJec't llanager, I(ara Base !{anager, CAO, Chief Aerobase Kara and Chief EOA i:l' Itarac 2.3. The reLease equipnent despite much nodificatioa aad irprovement is still barely adeqrate to the tadr. RecaLibratious are caried out on the ground each wedr urith satisfactorlr resu-lts for indirni&al drops. Itrowever, i.u otrnrations the equilment is capr:lcious. Drring LgBB in the EOA ia 31 miss:ions dosage nas iaaccurate above tbe 5 % l-eveL i:r 7 cases (23 l). There were ] overdoses and 4 underdoses. 2r/.... -2- Checlcs of insecticide drrrm coateats have sttotm that these are we].l within the 5 I accuracy level so the fatrlt Lies with the equitrmeut. In the vierr of OCP staff, the control box of the release equilment does not meet paragraph Eo2. of the aeriaL contract. It reguires too much of the pilotels attentiou and time to change the volune and he is oftea obLiged to leave the river to do so. tBlfuslows doun treatneat of conplerc breediag sites uith partial doses. Ihis/oalces it v€r:r di.fficult to Lntro- dnce certai[ inTtrrroved treafuent methods w?rich reErir"e frequeat ctranges in voltme. It ms noted that the EEI neLease eguipnent eng:heer does not fly enouglt on treatnent circuits to acquaint hinsslf with ome of the pnoblems that the OCP encounters in the fieLd rith release equitrmeat. The disc&rarge rate is still insufficient aad there is monitoring qpsten. no pressure Ibdifications have been nade to insecticide taatcs to reduce cavitationt these modifications are beiag enaLuated by OCP staff. 2.4. In adcLition to the strort-conings Listed abovej the follotriag itens were roted to be raised at the rerrieu neeting. fhey are I (i) ttre heJ.icopter cnrise speed (9O - 95 kts) is however stilL lower ttraa contract specifications. flhe advice of the IIHO legal adrriser shoul-d be ought on the nost appropriate \ilay in which the h.ogr"anme couLd secure compensation for this reduced strned eogo btrr a proportionate reductiou in guaranteed fl.ight hours or a reduced standard price for flight hours. (ii) - Sight reuaes require repositionine and recalibration The modificatioa of the heJ.icopter laricide tark requires that sight gaugss be retrnsitioned and recalibrated.(iii) -@iqe-Ege RefueJ.ing purps shouLd be equipped rith particuJate and tater filter eLements. J/.!... -3- (iv) - ttBear-pat heLiqgpter landiaq-pa4E It ras roted that onJy one helicopter has been equipped with a rrFearLpaurt pad for pmspestioa fliglrts (refer item 9 of the EUIATEO neetiag of 2J - 24 Sept 1987). (v) - Ione range fue]. talrl< It ms uoted thet no Iong range fueL tank Ls available for prospection flLights. (rri) - Adherence to treatmeat circuits It ms noted that EII should lnform the Chief alrbase conceraed &6 eloon as trnssible of arryr clrange or devlation fnom aro agreed treatnent cLrstrLt. (vii) - Conve* nir:rors for fixed-wi.ne It nras suggssted that convex nirrors be instaLLed on Turbo l[trnrshes for OCP observers as is doae oa heLicoptbrs. 3.tf,atoPg msEs AND EANCdA E*CILISI*',- Both lhra and Odiern5 trangar facilities are retrnrted to be in good wozking order as oustanding repairs have row been carried out. The tftteasioa of the eaztSa6 area and the constnrction of a prrh 1nd for aircraft at the Karr' hangar uiLL soon be undertalcen. It r*as also retrnrted that an aeria-l fue3. tads of 5O.OOO Li.tree catrac5.ty wilL be instalted on a triaL basis i.u Sara-.Kara. If the installation and the use of tlui.s tanlc are pmved to be cost efficient and successf,uJ-t a sLmilar fueL tanlc w:iLl- be instal].ed in Odienn6. 4. ilTNEIOII FUEt AND CACH, OCP has used the serrrices of Mobil QiL Comprlr for the analysis of srspected contarni-nated aviation fuel-. The resrrLts of these aaalysest however, take a long time to reach OCP. For operatioanL needs, it is recomnended that OCP orplores other possibilities of obtaiaiag a quidcer analyticaL serrrice. Sarnples for enalysis sttouLd be taken nouti.nely during refi3.l-ing operations in Beai:r and cor:ntries of the Western extension. As it is very i-ntrrcrtant that instnrctions for fuel aad l"arrnicide cListnibution be effective\y cagied out, it is recommeaded that repairs of Logistics Lor.ries in central- garage at Ouagedougou be gtven high priority. 4/.... -4- It ms retrnrted that *It [ry*16 aor reguires adnance paimat from @P before sgpplying fueL. flui.s is totall;y nnsatisfactor'5r. A seLior OCP adninistrative officer s?rou1d visit SheLL IQ, Accra in order to negociate this natter. 5. MOI{EHLY SEPORIS It nas decided to base the nontlr}y retrnrt on river basins as flom April 1988. A rerrier of the dlistribution List of this retrnrt uil-l be Eade. 5. coMPurERrsaTrgN AI{D A}{AI,YSIS Or AEROPS DATII Most progzess has been made ln the t{estera Operatioral lrea (WOA) due to ladc of conputing e4rertise in Kara. The Eastern Qnrational Area (pOA) needs are cumently being net. In both Odienn6 and l(ara disclrarge and dosage calcuLations are perfotmed by computer but the progran used requires updati-ng uith new @nversiou tabLes and the iaclusion of new guages. FueL and larvicide logistics in the WOA is now conpletelry conputerised. In the Es, the logistics pxogran has so far only being used to a Hnited exLent. A new program has been r'rrittea for recorcling and processiag iasecticide treatnent data. This is operational in the WOA and rci.Ll- be adapted for the EOA. tr.Iight hour recon&iag has been partLy computerised. A pnogrem is being completed for use by both bases. It is considered that the cumently used lBM-PCs are iaadeqr:ate for the jncreasing wor^ls3-oad pJ.aced upon then. The introduction of IBM-Afs er equiyaJ-ents taith coprocessors and integraL hard didcs would solve problens of data storage and speed of calculation at both Aerops baseso 7^ ON-BOARD RrcORDING SYSIru,S It was recommended to purchase one FattrLi-lrk trnsition, spray aad tine recor&ing systen and one sirnpLer spray and time record:irrg systen on a trial basis. llhe cost ras esti-tsated at $ 25'OOO. The fo:mer would be used in the Westera Qnr"atioral Area and the latter in the Eastert operationaL Area to see if this equitrment wouLd be cost-effective in i-r'aproviag operations. If tt were, its use wouLd be forseen in the ne>rt contragt' 5/"" -5- It was decided to make engriries w:ith PatlOinlc, Ooboard Systems, and Micronair. B. the invi.tation to bid document is rmder revision and the neeting disctrssed several additional nodifications which $i11 be commrnicated setrnrately to CAO. 9. This natter EE disctrssed and conclusions reached riLL be conmrmicated to the hograme Director rmder confidentiaL cover. 10. AI{T OTEER EITISINESS 1O.1o Dlspoea]. of empty d:rus Thpse strould rot be soLd comercia&y. The @P can only e:qrect a verXr J.ow price for this product. Routine comnercial saLe crea- tes a nar{cet for the product and increases theft of firLl drtrns. A nost stritable use of enpty dnrms is as attward to commraitf.cs *h"tch guard f,treL and jasecticide stoclcs and to OCP staff for personal use. Any decision i.n this uatter shouLd be comusicated to Chiefs of Aerobases. 1O-2. ColLa,boration fr"on Sectors and Sub-Sectors A better coLlaboration frrcn the Sector and Sub-Sectors is requested as regards to I a) inventories for fuel and Iasecticide b) nanueL treatment reports c) assistance for transport of pilots d) rrisits to authorities in case of theft a.nd insecurity of laading places IO"J. furbo Ttu:ustt fuel consumption It was retrnrted that the fuel consumption rate for Turbo Tht:ustt aircraft is }fO litres/rour not t4O titresTtrour as usr.ral.ly stated. 10.4. Missions of long duration It uas noted that a helicopter may be occasional-3-y required to stay out of its base on mission for up to three ueeks. 6/. .. . -6- In the view of OCP staff, this is not a tnfficiently Long period to Justify the esLabLishment of a temlnrary base according to paragraph I.2 of the contract. In strch cases, OCP uilt eadeanor to give ffiI notice suffi.cient- ly ahead to allor mutually acceptable arra[geoents for maintenance to be made (e.g. assignnent of pilot/eugineer). LO.5. Overyig.ht acconodation It was recognized that thene is insrfficient comnercial acconodation l-n the Westera Iffieasion area to allor the organization of efficient circults. Eherefore the OCP may have to talce steps to prov:ide srritable acconodations. L0.6o BeU.Jr baegaee mds Belly pds of the Viking tJrtrle u:ith an aurcilLiary fuel tanlc have proved of nalue and should be required i"a the ne:* goatract. .'n r, !tr. M.Co Lecocqls candidature If airbases have eaouglr insecticide, empty fueL dnrns aad speciaLly good transport and rapid maintenance facilities, a J.ogisticjan like Mr. Co Lecocq is not required. Eouenrer, it uas recognized that the aerops unit of @ienn6 ras understaffed particularly with the increased rmrk in the Wes*eru &ctension. Therefore, the recnritment of an addi- tionaL Aerops officer shouLd be given an early consideration. ].].. DATE AND PT,ACE OT NMqt AERTAT OPERATIONS MEETING ft is proposed that the next aerops neetiag will be heLd i.n OdiennS, imnediately before the nexb aerial contract rev:iew neeting. E.W The minutes were approved by the participants oa March eB, L988. -7- 1'. IJST OF PASIICIPAI\rIS D. BaLdrTr, 0O, Araga (Cnafrman) J.I'. !{aLs}r, Ctrief EOA, Kara J. Ileadericlcx, Chief Airbase IGra P. hudiougo, Chief Airbase Odienn6 D. Kurtak; Chief IEU, Boualc6 Y. Yanagata, EOA l(ara f. Otrnku, Aerops l(ara D. Partridge, Aerops Odlenn6 R. Meyer, IRU, Bouak6 P. Kabor€, Aviation Officer (Rapporteur) I I 1