Stig was at this time getting ready for a well deserved break as he had been a major player for the flight corridors between Entebbe and Rwanda as well as towards DRC.
I had not even reached the office when I heard his Norwegian accent shouting while speaking on the handheld radio.
He appointed Ivan, his assistant, to join me and do the formalities and get me to the lounge. In the same breath he gave strict instruction to Ivan not to leave me out of sight, even for a minute.
We got through all the paperwork ok and were sitting looking out over the tarmac and the planes landing.
Finally my plane UNK -95 arrived. Over my handheld radio I could hear Stig’s voice giving instructions to various people. Suddenly he starts shouting “IVAAAN where are you”. Ivan jumping out of his seat trying to answer the radio in the same breath. ” I am with your passenger”
“But you know the passenger cant get lost if he already is at the gate.. I need you by the plane.”
“Yes Sir” and Ivan was with his legs on the back heading down to the plane.
As I was just interested in what was in general happening I kept listening on the radio traffic.
I saw Ivan running towards the plane when a loud voice again come on the radio. “Ivan- where are you, are you with the pilot now? Before Ivan even got a chance to answer Stig once more shout over the radio… ” Ivaaann– why have you not gotten the fuel truck to the plane”
Looking out of the tarmac I see Ivan standing right in between the plane, holding his handheld radio and just looking confused. I felt sorry for him. Even the few minutes I spent with him it was clear he was a nice guy and did everything he could to ensure everything went smooth. There simply is only so much one guy can do with conflicting instructions.
In the end the plane got fuelled and the pilot and co-pilot left the plane and walked around on the tarmac. Me and 2 more passengers were ready to board.
Once more we hear Stig on the radio ” Ivaaaan – why are you not with the passenger!!!!” upon which Ian without answering the radio make way up to our gate in very fast long steps.
We all enter the tarmac and head over to the plane. A small beech craft which was in use more than a year for our operation only.
I say hi to the pilot and his co pilot. The Pilot was a Kenyan guy and the co pilot a fellow swede.
They both ask us not to board the plane yet as they are inspecting the plane. Once done they both disappear into the plane and starts discussing something.
finally the co-pilot comes out and informs us that the flight is cancelled as they had found some “technical” problem with the plane.
Talking to the co-pilot in our native tongue I find out that the pilot is angry as he did not get any coffee on arrival and therefor just want to cancel the flight.
However no they had a problem….
The had arrived with the son of the country director for our operation in Burundi who was on the way to meet his father for a few days.
Once a plane is declared not suitable for passengers… they cant carry passengers…. Yet they had this 12 year old, boy whom they had taken on responsibility for.
They again discussed, and in the end they came to the conclusion that they would have to take the boy back, leave us on the ground and fly back to Nairobi.
3 hours later the plane arrived back and we continued to Mwanza… the pilot was another one 🙂 the co-pilot was the same..
While I flew UNK-95 many times after that, I never saw the pilot again.