It was some years ago
and I was called on to fly some passengers from Port Elizabeth
to a small lodge right on the border of South Africa and Botswana.
My passengers were a young American couple with a small infant.
We took off from PE and duly climbed to F110. Initially it
seemed as if this was to be yet another lovely flight but things
soon began to take on an ominous feel.
The “scattered cloud” the weather offi ce had
flippantly referred to was in fact a series of significant vertically
developed clouds, and the turbulence began getting worse and
worse. Even though I was able to stay well clear of all cloud
for the entire trip, the turbulence can only be described as
extreme. I tried all levels from F110 right down to low-level,
and the turbulence stuck to me like mud to a shoe.
Using the autopilot was out of the question, and the power
setting alternated between full power and slamming the throttles
back to idle in order to keep the speed within limits.
There were times when the little baby was airborne, right
near the ceiling of the aircraft. The absolutely amazing thing
is that this little baby slept solidly throughout the nightmarish
trip. I, like all pilots I am sure, have experienced turbulence
before but never for such a prolonged period, right across South
Africa. It really was an unusual day and, on landing, I told
my flustered passengers so.
We stood on the deserted airfield, with the baby still sleeping
solidly (this was a good baba), and tried to make contact with
someone to come and collect the passengers. Nightfall was approaching
and to the East of the airfield was without a doubt one of the
biggest storms I have ever seen approaching. It was still some
15 nm away but it had definitely crept closer since we had landed
just 10 minutes previously.
It started to rain. What to do? Do I wait for the vehicle
to arrive to collect the passengers but then be grounded due
to it being too dark to take-off? If I waited even five more
minutes I would surely be grounded by the approaching storm
and, by the time the storm passed, it would be too dark to take-off
anyway! Decisions decisions!
I voiced my concern to my friendly and understanding passengers.
With a thick yankee drawl they both convinced me to immediately
mount my trusty steed and get the hell outa there! I needed
no more encouragement. I was soon barrelling down the runway
and was quickly airborne and turned the aircraft away from the
approaching storm. I then held onto my hat as I bounced and
shook all the way back to Port Elizabeth. Shew! Was this turbulence
never going to let up! I finally put the aircraft and my rattled
bones on the ground in PE that night and went home for a well-deserved
snort.
The next morning, I was getting on with my day, considering
just what a good job I had done the previous day when my telephone
rang. The boss wanted to know just what the heck I had done
the previous day. Huh? What was he on about?
It turns out that my American friends were most unimpressed
that they had to stand in a raging downpour, with a small baby,
when they could have at least had an aircraft to sit in had
I stayed. Well jeez! It was they who had encouraged me to get
the hell out of there at speed, due to the fact that they were
about to be stuck with me for the night if I did not act quickly.
In fact, I wouldn’t have minded at all if I had to stay,
as lodges and me go together quite well, thank you very much.
Also, they had assured me that the driver was on his way as
they had just spoken to him on the telephone. The lodge was
right nearby.
Luckily, I had an understanding boss as the whole matter was
left right there, but the incident does leave some unanswered
questions.
In the preceding scenario I had two choices; stay or go. To
stay would have been the better choice as my passengers would
have remained dry and I would have had a smoother, and therefore
safer, flight back to home base the next day. I would also have
had a pleasant stay in an expensive lodge. On the down side,
my passengers may have felt inclined to keep me company that
evening, they would have incurred more costs, and the aircraft
would have been unavailable for another charter the next morning.
Either way I would have had unhappy passengers.
This was one of those lose/lose situations. Either way, the
pilot was wrong. Mmmm. It’s a tough life but somebody’s
got to do it I’m sure the baby enjoyed it though.
www.aviationandsafety.co.za
Read
This... It could save your life!
What
would you do if you have a heart attack while flying?
The Johnson City, Tennessee Medical Centre staff actually
discovered this technique and performed an in-depth study
on it in their ICU. The two individuals who discovered
this then wrote an article on it, had it published and
have had it incorporated into ACLS and CPR classes. It
is true and has and does work. It is called cough CPR.
Cardiologists says it’s the truth. If everyone who
reads this tells it to 10 people, you can bet that we’ll
save at least one life.
Let’s say it’s 6:15 p.m., and you’re
driving home (alone of course) after an usually hard day
on the job. You’re really tired, upset and frustrated.
Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest
that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your
jaw. You are only about fi ve miles from the hospital
nearest your home. Unfortunately you don’t know
if you’ll be able to make it that far.
What can you do? You’ve been trained in CPR but
the guy that taught the course, didn’t tell you
what to do if it happened to yourself. In the air this
could get you to the nearest airport, saving the lives
of your passengers. Since many people are alone when they
suffer a heart attack, this article is to be studied.
Without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly
and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds
left before losing consciousness.
However, these victims can help themselves by coughing
repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be
taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and
prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the
chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about very
two seconds without let up until help arrives, or until
the heart is felt to be beating normally again.
Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing
movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating.
The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain
normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get
to a hospital. Tell as many other people as possible about
this, it could save their lives!
“AND THE BEAT GOES ON !”
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