African Skies

Part seven: Once safely ferried over from the UK, the modifications we made to our second Golden Eagle got the local CAA into yet another lather

- Tim Cooper

We were on final for Runway 09 and had just been switched to Tower. “Djibouti Tower, Golf Mike Uniform Victor Golf is with you, Cessna 421 inbound from Jeddah at three thousand feet and six miles out for Runway zero nine.”

“Victor Golf you are number one, QNH one zero zero five.” The controller sounded a little testy, and his Arab-English was a little quick and accented for our ears; perhaps he’d had a long day. “QNH one zero zero five, number one for zero nine, thank you, Victor Golf.”

We had heard a lot of Djibouti traffic on our inbound journey, but it had dwindled in the last twenty minutes as dusk set in. With the sun at our back, the rugged, barren moonscape that is Djibouti was burnished glorious shades of gold. We’d had a long day and were looking forward to a hotel, a beer and a shower, in that order.

Suddenly, a superior English voice out of the blue: “Djibouti Tower, Expeditor Three One is on final. I think we are number one, actually”. Jolted from our reverie, ferry pilot Steve and I peered down our crepuscular path to the threshold of the three thousand metre runway and saw nothing. We craned our necks and looked behind as best we could, Steve to the left, me to the right. Nothing. We looked below. Still nothing. A military call sign. Did we have a fast jet on our tail?

Steve shrugged his shoulders and nodded at me, “Djibouti Tower, Victor Golf has no traffic in sight. Please advise,” I requested. “Golf Victor Golf, you are number one. Proceed!” came Tower’s reply, now irascible and assertive.

The laconic English voice again, cucumber cool, “Djibouti Tower, Expeditor Three One is number one; we have the other traffic in sight.”