What is on his head?!....oh its an aquarium full of fish
Two days ago while driving home from work there was the usual crowd of hawkers/mobile shops moving through the traffic at intersections as well as these 3 guys who were selling live fish with tank and all!! I have spoken about the Dar es Salaam in-car shopping service in my 'life in Dar' post.
In these glass fish tanks full of live tropical fish there is already an array of plants and the usual base of pebbles. I never had time to stop and listen to their sales pitch so I can not provide a price for the ready to go home aquarium.
Last night I finished my 3 afternoon Zanzibar return flights after dark and decided to take a few snapshots on the Terminal 1 apron. This Cessna 206 here has only been back in service for the last two months after it underwent major repairs from a rather ridiculous incident/accident back in the middle of 2008.I saw the accident happen as I was walking across the apron one afternoon. I had been talking to the young pilot just minutes earlier....he had just been released solo on his first ever flying job the day before. So this was only his second day as a line pilot. After landing back in Dar es Salaam with a full load of passengers (only 5) he was then loaded up with freight for a flight out to a hunting airstrip in the Selous Game reserve.
As I was strolling across the apron I was watching his take off roll on runway 14 with little interest. I still did not think much of it when the C206 got airborne and then settled back down again on the runway.......until it did it again....then again!! The aircraft began porpoising, like a dolphin as it jumps in and out of the water along side a speeding boat. The bouncing of the aircraft at full power got more and more out of control as the aircraft built up speed.....it then bounced off the side the runway and basically nose dived into the ground where it instantly stopped! The pilot got out unhurt, could not say the same for this poor little Cessna 206.
I have never seen any official report into what happened that day......But my educated guess is he forgot to set the elevator trim for take off and it was set too far forward from the previous landing. So I think whenever the aircraft got enough lift to fly, it got airborne only to have forward trim setting push the nose back onto the ground. This process happened repeatedly with an increasing frequency. The pilot never reacted to the situation in time to prevent an accident.
I now look back now and I am very thankful that no stupid incident happened to me (touch wood) on my first flying job with less than 300 hours total flying time to my name.
Coastal Aviation has just added a new aircraft type the Pilatus PC-12 to its already strong fleet of Cessna 208's and Cessna 206's. This is the first PC-12 to arrive with another arriving very soon.
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Will you be able to transition to the Pilatus? I'd be VERY interested in that - fun!
ReplyDeleteI am sure if I had pushed the matter I could be trained up on the Pilatus. But I am leaving Tanzania in the next few months to search for employment elsewhere. I have nearly completed my two year contract here.
ReplyDeletehi did you take that picture in Dar? i fly that king air and it looks like the state that i left it in one night in dar! andy
ReplyDeleteYeah I took the picture, I love seeing an aircraft covered in mud after a days flying.
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