Again , feedback guys ... please . Unbelievable tales of the flying Dutchman . Flying an Airbus A 380 . After many years of hard work , running a business and raising kids my wife Liesel and myself decided to take a long overdue vacation . The beautiful islands of the Mauritius was winking at us as we set of from OR Thambo Airport in Joburg . As a resident of Nelspruit we had to fly to OR Thambo from Nelpruit to catch our flight . Everything was planned perfectly and the wife indicated that she would spoil me so much on our holiday and this even persuaded me to pack my G-String for those quality Mommy and Daddy evenings next to the pool . We set off from Joburg in an Airbus A 380 to our island in the sun destination . After only about 30 minutes in the air a very concerned looking hostess came up to us asking us to stay calm but they were looking for a person with aviation skills . It later came to light that the pilots had bad food of the flight in from Europe to OR Thambo and that they were very sick . Like I always say , not being a man that looks for a solution to a problem that have never existed I realised that nobody was close to being qualified to take up such job . With my limited time in LSA aircraft I did what any proud man would do . In the famous words if Nicolas Cage in the movie Conair I said ,” I am going to save the damn day “ and made my way to the flight deck with the Missus in tow . . OK , he said it with a bit more flair and some words that I can not repeat in this magazine . As I sat down in the left seat I had to come to terms with the amount of switches , fuses , computers , lights and the touch screen equipment I have no knowledge or training on . As I looked out the window I recognised some very familiar landmarks from the cockpit . I saw the N4 highway as it ended at the border with Mozambique . The fact that I knew where I was and that the Komatipoort border post was right under me lead me to my very carefull and professional planning to get all 500 souls on board safely on the ground . Saving the day was all up to me and the first thing that came to mind was not to make any mistakes . Watching a movie many years ago where Kurt Russel and Halle Berry had to land a Boeing 747 in the worst of conditions I thought very carefully about my actions . They did not read the operators manual and that is why they struggled lowering the landing gear and getting to grips with the aircraft . I was not about to make any of those mistakes and with the A 380 still on autopilot I asked my wife to read the owners manual out loud to me . I looked carefully at every control in the A 380 and with my new found speed training on the Airbus systems I was confident to disengage the autopilot and turn back to Nelspruit . My decision making was logical as I know all the landmarks in the area and have a good idea of the length of the runway at Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport . So landing in a place I know will minimize the risk off much going wrong . Not fully understanding the navigation equipment and systems of the A 380 i . dropped altitude to around 3000 feet I followed the N4 towards the city . Ja , you can laugh all you want but I dare you to do what in did ! All sorts of warning light and buzzers was going off but I had to focus on the job at hand . Just a few weeks before I just finished my advanced flying course with CC Pocock on a Cessna 172 and my knowledge to blank out everything but flying the plane was coming in to play . It was like reverting to military training in an emergency situation and it worked wonders . The flight manual indicated that I needed a bit of flaps and a speed of around 200 knots to successfully land the monster of a plane . What Kurt Russel forgot in the movie was to lower the landing gear on each approach , a mistake I was not going to make . As I came in for a landing I still remembered what CC Pockock taught me , come in high and slow so in the event of anything going wrong I could just bring on the power and get out of trouble and line up for a second attempt . As I lined up for the runway I realised I was way to fast and put the A 380 in a crabbing attitude to shed off some speed and just went for it . With buzzers and warnings screaming in my ears I was about to touch down at KMi . I came in over the valley and saw the runway glimmering in the sun , welcoming me , the A 380 and the none the wiser passengers to the Lowveld . It must have been the best landing in my life and I can not tell you how smooth the touch down was . After getting out the A 380 I sat on the runway looking at the beautiful A 380 and thinking of my amazing feat of airmanship . I lit up a Camel filter and basked in the glory of my awesome achievement . What a day ! Safely back at home a few days later I received a call from Europe . It was the lead flight instructor on the Airbus A 380 fleet offering me a job at the factory . They said that they have never seen such piloting skills and that it would be a waste to lose an individual like myself to Boeing . I was sorry to inform them that I love South-Africa and the Lowveld and flying my twin engined , twin turbo charged micro light was too much to leave behind . Not being a man to brag about his achievements I have to admit that Tom Cruise have nothing on me , and that is enough for me . If I was flying , Goose would still be alive !
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 08:13:29 +0000
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