IT’S 3:45 AM, IT’S DARK, and my day is about to start. After slowly creaking out of bed, I splash some cold water on my face, and tiptoe to get the coffee started.
The other guys are not up yet, but they’re probably flying a different schedule today. I’ll be quiet.
Home away from home here in the swamp is a typical Southern trailer accommodating four pilots. There are countless such trailers in this part of the world in which local families create a comfortable home, knowing that all their worldly possessions might be swept away by the next hurricane. At least our trailer is relatively new, and it’s equipped with a powerful central air conditioner, the size of a small family saloon. It runs all the time. There’s a communal lounge and kitchen, but we each have a private room and en-suite bathroom. There is virtually no sound proofing, so we share a lot of intimate details that should have remained unheard.
Spoken words or otherwise created. There are many other trailers just like this, but this is ours – our little “family” away from family. This is top-notch luxury compared to some of the joints I have been stuck in before as an intrepid aviator.
The coffee is just what I need this morning, and I slowly galvanise with a rusk or two that somehow survived international travel across the Atlantic. No-one here knows what a rusk is, but I suspect that someone is developing a taste for my wife’s homemade delicacies. There are a few missing – I’m sure of it. I’ll have to hide these. It’s every man for himself when it comes to rusks or biltong in a strange and foreign land!
この記事は SA Flyer Magazine の December 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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この記事は SA Flyer Magazine の December 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
LIVING THE DREAM Part 2: Planning and Pax
Part 2: Planning and Pax
QUEEN AIR TALES
In the early seventies Esquire Airways acquired a pre-owned Beechcraft Queen Air. This top of the range 8,800 lb MAUW model had nine forward facing commuter seats and I flew it as a single pilot operation for several months.
HELICOPTER PILOTS SHOULD UNIONISE
Helicopter pilots are stuck in a 12-month flying cycle. While they will have periods of rest and active rest (performing ground-based tasks and planning ventures) within their work source campaigns, it's not a good situation. They need programmed periods to catch their breath.
AFTERMATH of the Engine Fire
Iris McCallum continues her stories about her early years with Air Kenya. This month she tells us about the immediate aftermath of her dramatic engine fire and crash, and her subsequent 'getting back onto the saddle'.
LARGEST EVER RHINO RELOCATION
Specialist air cargo operator ACS mobilised all its skills to successfully complete a very challenging project – the translocation of 39 White Rhino from Namibia to the USA.
NOVEMBER 2024
November sees strong growth in aircraft registrations with 16 additions, but 10 aircraft are cancelled as exported. The Type Certified additions are a mixed bag.
TWINCO FUEL
AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT REPORT
RON WHEELDON'S HUNTERS
RON WHEELDON is a Johannesburg based trademark and IP attorney. He writes, \"My love affair with Hawker Hunter jet fighters started in approximately 1963 when the Rhodesian parliament opening was marked by a fly-by of nine recently acquired Hawker Hunters in diamond formation.
FLYING THE HAWKER HUNTER
Flying a Hunter starts hours before actually walking out to the aircraft. This machine is a legend, but it is first of all about the highest performance machine that it is feasible for a civilian to fly. Flying it is not to be taken lightly.
RIGHT SEAT RULES NO. 25 SLOW FLIGHT
Most of us feel a bit edgy when the ASI creeps down within 10 KIAS of the stall. Jim Davis has some hints on how to be comfortable and in control - even when the airspeed is 20 KIAS below the stall.