Air Force Base (AFB) Ysterplaat-based 22 Squadron, via SA Air Force (SAAF) Chief Lieutenant General Wiseman Mbambo, answered a call for civic duty from the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company.
The cableway, a major tourist attraction in Cape Town, is shut from 15 July to 1 September for annual maintenance, which includes a full cable replacement for the first time since a 1997 revamp, as well as maintenance of the hanging and running gear.
The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company required replacing 6 km of track rope cable. After searching far and wide for commercial helicopter capability, no positive outcome was received.
After reaching out to the SA Air Force, 22 Squadron made available an Oryx to lift components to the top of the mountain.
Major LH Grobler of 22 Squadron reports the go-ahead for the cargo slinging was given for 26 July. The Western Cape province’s inclement winter weather put the kibosh on the Friday 26 July move until the following Tuesday (30 July) when an Oryx medium transport rotorcraft took eight loads of cableway equipment from Tafelberg Road to the top of the iconic mountain.
Grobler further reported the Oryx made “light work” of the slinging as the aircraft is capable of carrying 1.8 tons under its fuselage and its mission was duly successfully executed.
