I can smell, feel, guess, foresee some night stops coming. Plane is stuck in Nairobi waiting some paperwork to be stamped. My company believes the plane will be cleared tomorrow…I don’t. But I’m going anyway, so I’m posting a few stuff in advance.
so flying the bush…I was just hoping for nice pictures, a bit of dust, a nice landscape in the background (the Rift Valley at a place called Ngaresero, 600 meter cliffs), a touch of color with the red aeroplane…i got more than expected: a tricky airstrip, quite soft and sandy and rocky. The pilot got a bit rough on the controls to enter the airstrip, kicked the pedals a bit too hard and jammed the nose wheel in the sand.
just starting to move and turning to align with the airstrip heading…
the propeller is still rotating here….the 300 HP engine still roaring, still creating a lot of noise.
then the engine stops, see the dead propeller, and the total silence sets in…impressive moment.
nobody was hurt but the pilot’s pride. Two propeller blades are pretty twisted.
show time for the Masai!
on take off in a dusty area, Olpirikata, near the Serengeti. The power of a propeller!
Nairobi Wilson airport. A bombed airplane! Mafia style. The story was never cleared up…
the plane stayed there, like this, visible by everyone for months! Parked on the main parking lot, nice impression for the tourists who have just arrived in the country…nice marketing.
you’ve got long hair? Blonde? Or worse, red haired? You’re in to feel like a circus animal amongst the remote tribes who have never or rarely seen this kind of hair.
some incredible airstrips. Some pilots have refused to use this one again after the first training visit. Ngoveroni, one way in one way out no matter the wind, altitude 6500 ft or 2000m, on the flank of a crater (Empakai), 400 m long but luckily quite steep. No going around once you’re committed to land because the crater slope is too steep for the aircraft capability. For the pilots, 600 ft on the VSI during take off, aspirated engine…
so steep that once I got booby trapped: heavy mamas were in the back of the plane, and as soon as I got out, the plane sat on her tail. Not proud of myself even if the conditions were unusual. The mamas were yelling at me while I was shooting instead of getting them out. Maybe they were angry that there would a long lasting proof of their big weight…you know there is no television out there. little stories like this are gold for people, not for the victims of course, and they stay for long.
here, the steepness is quite visible, and also the airstrip banks to the right as well. Quite challenging airstrip.
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