On 21 September 2010, a Boeing 737 aircraft left Lanseria Airport (located west of Johannesburg, South Africa) with only “fully synthetic” jet fuel on board. This flight was a result of 14 years of research by South African-based company Sasol and the main ingredient of this fuel was coal. Sasol has a 60-year history in the development of synthetic fuels. In June 1996 Sasol began discussions with the UK Ministry of Defence (UK Mod), the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) and other authorities for the approval of semi synthetic jet aircraft fuel after Johannesburg’s (what is now known as) Oliver Tambo International Airport experienced a shortage of jet fuel. The first batch of this new type of fuel which contains up to 50% of synthetic fuel mixed with conventional crude oil was approved on 22 February 1999 and is in use at Oliver Tambo Airport from that time.
The next time when you leave Johannesburg after your visit to South Africa, just take a moment to think about the fuel on-board the plane you are taking. It may contain a large percentage of synthetic fuel. If you come back in a few years time, you will maybe fly back on 100% synthetic fuel.
Extra-Info: A Runway of Gold
According to a book that was published by "Chris van Rensburg Publikasies (EDMS)" in 1986 to celebrate the 100th birthday of the city of Johannesburg (South Africa); the oldest runway at the city's Jan Smuts Airport which is now known as the Oliver Tambo International Airport contains small quantities of gold. The city has a long history of gold mining since the 1880's. Most of the city's gravel comes from the gold mines and in the late 1940's and early 1950's when this airport was under construction, the technology to extract the gold out of the rock wasn't jet so advanced as it is today. That is how the city of Johannesburg got its golden runway.
On 19 April 1952 this golden runway greeted a very special guest to South Africa when a prototype of the world's first commercial passenger jet aircraft, the de Havilland Comet touched down on it. In 1961 this original runway was lengthened from 3200m(3500yds) to 4420m(4830yds) to accommodate the new jet aircraft like the Boeing 707, which made passenger air travel more appealing. Because of the fact that the Oliver Tambo Airport is located more than 1600m above sea level the Comet wasn't the last prototype aircraft to visit this airport. Others like the Airbus A300 and Concord followed. It was also visited a few years back by a prototype Airbus A380. Both Air France and Lufthansa now use this super jet on their routes to Johannesburg.
Extra-Info: Aircraft Tires
Have you ever been in a commercial jet when it take-off? Going from zero to nearly 400hm/h (250mph) in a minute or so? How hot do you think the air inside the tires of that aircraft became during this time? According to an editorial type of advertisement of Dunlop in the November 1994 issue of "Flying Springbok", the in-flight magazine of the South African Airways during that time this temperature can rise to 110oC (230oF). The problem is that this temperature will drop to -20oC (-4oF) during flight. When the aircraft lands it will rises to 110oC (230oF) again in a very short space of time. According to the same article every tire’s life is calculated on the number of times it takes off and lands. The live of one of the main tires fitted to an Airbus A300 is about 150 take-offs and landings. But strangely the most tread, about 60% isn't lost during take-off and landing but during taxiing. Another interesting thing it that the main tires of a Boeing 747 can carry up to 22 800 kg (50 300 Ibs) each.
Glossary
Aircraft
A vehicle that carry passengers or goods by air
Airline
A company that carry passengers and goods by aircraft to different places
Airport
A place where aircraft take off and land
Aviation
The designing, building and flying of aircraft
Code
A system of symbols, letters, words or numbers that represent a message in a shorter form
Country
A piece of land that used to have or has its own laws and government
Fuel
Something that produces power or heat usually when it is burnt
Helicopter
An aircraft that has large blades on top that go round instead of wings
Jet or Jet Aircraft
A plane powered by jet turbines
Plane
An aircraft with wings
Aircraft Registration Number
The series of numbers and letters by which an aircraft could be identified
Western build aircraft (like Airbus and Boeing) will very seldom carry a registration number which begin with RA. This is because these aircraft are taxed more then locally produced ones, when it is registered in the Russian Federation. To overcame this problem airlines just register all their foreign build aircraft outside the country. Most of them is registered in Bermuda, and therefor its registration numbers begin with VP-B or VQ-B.