Gabriel de Figueiredo wrote:
> Reminds me of a short Mumbai-Goa flight by Aeroflot in the 80s -
> stewardesses were IA.
> The flight was going empty, and IA passengers were invited to take the
>earlier unscheduled
> flight by Aeroflot if they wished, so off we went. The seats were all flat
> (the plane probably
> serverd a dual purpose - carry passengers or goods), so we had lift their
> backs upright.
> On landing in Goa, the hostess made an announcement "all passengers at the
> back please
> disembark first, to maintain the balance of the aircraft" ....
Folks,
This one reminds me of the worst flight I never went on.
Picture this. Remote Mafia Island in Tanzania is a sun drenched fisherman's and
coconut
growers paradise. The entire island is covered with tall coconut tress except
for a tiny airstrip,
The airstrip is serviced only by light (chartered) planes. Before any plane
lands, it buzzes
the airstrip once to scare away the goats that graze there. By the time the
aircraft circles
the airstrip and approaches for the landing, the whole village arrives at the
airstrip
as they want to be the first to get a weeks supply of newspapers and mail.
One Monday morning we went to the airstrip to catch our flight back to the
capital. Just as
we were about to board the aircraft, a mother threw herself at our feet and
begged us to
take her ten year old son, who had broken his leg, to the hospital in the city.
The sons leg
had swollen to the size of a tree trunk. Since all fishermen are only waiting
for the flimsiest
of excuses to return to fishing, two of us gave up our seats to the mother and
child.
Then we sat on the veranda, sipping scalding coffee and watched the aircraft
take of. As we
watched, my fishing mate mumbled that it did not seem like the aircraft had
enough height
to clear the coconut trees at the end of the airstrip. The next thing we knew
was that the
twin engined aircraft hit the crown of a coconut tree head on. The coconut tree
started
bending backwards and just when it seemed like it would snap, it paused
bending. The
coconut tree then sprung back and catapulted the plane back onto the airport
strip.
To make a long story short, two days later we were out fishing in the Indian
Ocean when
we saw small boat pulling a barge with the aircraft on it. So we sailed up to
the boat and
asked the captain what was going on. He replied, "Some idiot put 100 kgs of
fish in my
front baggage compartment."
Mervyn1650Lobo
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