There is currently a focused effort in developing countries on providing or upgrading road infrastructure in remote areas. However, access for surveys is often difficult and time-consuming because of poor roads and water crossings, dense vegetation, and/or the presence of thick sand. To complicate matters, quality aerial photographs and maps are often not available. Surveys are thus best conducted from the air, but the high speeds of conventional aircraft and high operating costs of helicopters typically render them unsuitable and most work is ultimately done from the ground. In the past few years, ultralight aircraft have been successfully used for surveys in remote areas in southern Africa. These aircraft are safe and inexpensive to fly; their slow speeds allow high manoeuvrability, and open cockpits afford all-round visibility. Thus it is feasible and cost-effective for engineers, geologists and other specialists to regularly fly and conduct surveys or to monitor progress and environmental impact. In this paper, the use of ultralight aircraft for road surveys in remote areas is introduced and two case studies are presented. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. 0612AR242E.
Samenvatting