IT WOULD BE A SHAME to pour water on the fire when the coals are still glowing, don't you agree? After all, I have been 'Part 121' for almost my whole career.
I live in Mombasa Kenya and so I went up to Nairobi for an Aircrew Medical. My company Ops Department had e-mailed me to say that they would need me back in Bujumbura, on the 16th of February and please would I organise the travel arrangements as usual.
Bujumbura is the capital of the tiny country of Burundi, up in the top right-hand corner of Lake Tanganyika in the middle of the vast continent of Africa. Once there, I was to take over as Captain on a DHC-6 Twin Otter, on contract to the United Nations, in their efforts to bring peace to a country where up to a million people were killed in a carefully planned and executed act of genocide. My medical was actually okay up to the end of March, but I would be on duty till the end of the first week in April, so they asked me to get the medical out of the way early, before I went. I received their e-mail on the 27th of January, so that gave me lots of time to organise things.
My Medical Examination was with an old friend, Dr George Irvine Robertson. I have known him for over thirty years. In fact I bought our house from him, on the shores of the Indian Ocean, just north of Mombasa. It is a little paradise on Earth and I still wonder that he could have parted with it.
Denne historien er fra September 2022-utgaven av SA Flyer Magazine.
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Denne historien er fra September 2022-utgaven av SA Flyer Magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Iris - her early years: IRIS FLIES ACROSS SUDAN
Laura McDermid continues her stories about Iris McCallum's early years in East Africa and the Sudan. In part 1 of this story she recounts how she had to fly a bunch of Belgian Missionaries to Aweil, a city in northwestern South Sudan, from Wilson in Nairobi in her old mate 'ARN', the Piper Aztec 5Y-ARN.
UGLY IS PRETTY: LEAR 25 VS PILATUS PC-6
When you go to a party where you don't know anybody, you should always go for the 'Ugly' girl, because she will be happy that you chose to spend time with her.
CIRRUS G7 LAUNCHED IN AFRICA
What makes one aircraft better than another? Range, Speed, or carrying capacity, short field performance, operating costs, high wing, low wing, side stick, traditional control yoke?
PRESIDENT'S TROPHY AIR RACE 2024
The annual Presidents Trophy Air Race (PTAR) is the highlight of the year for many competitive general aviation pilots.
THE ABSA LOWVELD AIRSHOW 2024
This year marked the thirtieth edition of the Lowveld airshow – and it was widely acclaimed as the best ever.
PREVIEW: AFRICAN AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE EXPO(AAD)
Guy Leitch finds out from AAD Exhibition Director, Ms Nakedi Phasha, how the buildup to this year's biennial expo is going, and what visitors and exhibitors can expect.
APRIL 2023
April has been a very quiet month on the local aviation marketplace with only nine new registration allocations and three deletions, according to the officially-supplied register review.
PIPISTREL PANTHERA FINALLY HERE
One of the world's most eagerly awaited piston single engine aircraft designs has finally arrived in South Africa. ZU-KTR is a long awaited Panthera, proudly owned by Bertus Kritzinger, a Free State trucker, and based at New Tempe in Bloemfontein, where the well-known Ferriera Aviation has assembled it.
STAGGERWING - ALREADY OLD WHEN NEW
The Staggerwing was the climax, and the end, of an era.
The Aim of Bombing
In modern warfare it's not the soldiers who die - it's the civilians. One of the best examples of this is carpet bombing.
