19th May 1990

This was one of the most frightening experiences I have ever had in my flying career, and a very funny story in the pub afterwards -as they always are in hindsight.

NAC in Port Elizabeth had just done a major overhaul on both engines of a Piper Aztec ZS-PHW which was based in nearby Grahamstown. The engineer who was responsible for most of the work (Jeremy Blanford) phoned and asked if I would like to do the test flight, volunteering to join me. I always think it is a good idea to...
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CLEARED TO LAND
Flying in India can be challenging at times (in fact most of the time!) ATC's most favourite word is "standby" or "say again." It is guaranteed every single time you ask for anything they will tell you to standby. When it comes to vectoring for an ILS they are not too bad, but unfortunately they are useless at mundane stuff like giving you landing clearance.

Here are a few Indian ATC stories.

When I was flying 320’s in Muscat for Oman Air we used to have a turnaround in Trivand...
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According to my logbook this happened on the 15th July 1967 - I had just turned thirteen!

We were on a trip in South Africa from Port Elizabeth to Durban and then Johannesburg back to PE.

My logbook entries are as follows -

7th July PE - East London  1'20"
             EL - Durban           2"25"

We attended an airshow at Virginia airport and Shelia Scott arrived in her Comanche having just set
a non-stop record from the UK to Cape Town. I think she was the first female in a single and the
fastes...
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