Mainsail
Member
Waiting by the shoreline, in Somalia for your reply
I need you to come see me, that's no lie
The guns are getting closer, the sweat pours like the dew
That fell from the trees in Tripoli in the spring
Tom Cochrane
In 1996 I flew a mission to the African continent. I was no stranger to the adventure that was always Africa, having been to Egypt, Sierra Leon, Monrovia, Senegal, Ghana, N'Djamena, Khartoum, Kenya, Zaire, and one place I'm not allowed to talk about. The purpose of the mission was to resupply various US Embassies, but to us it was just another trash haul with decent per diem rates.
We crew-rested in Abidjan in Ivory Coast and the following day we were scheduled to fly from there to Niamey Niger, quick turn, and then on to Kinshasa Congo (formerly known as Zaire). I was one of two Flight Engineers, and we had two Loadmasters, three Pilots, and one Purser. We carried three pilots because one of them, we'll call him Capt F, was on his OME checkride to upgrade to Aircraft Commander. That meant the third pilot was a Pilot Examiner (EP). This was one of the few rare occasions I got to fly with Steve, a good friend and FE who also came from Travis AFB. We didn't often carry a purser unless we were flying to certain locations in Africa or former Soviet Bloc countries. The purser's job was to carry, dispense, and account for cash, US dollars, which were needed at airfields without contract fuel and services. The standard cash load was $50K, although some halfwit in the Finance Office decided that since we never used more than $10K there was no reason for carrying so much. We departed Charleston with $10K, a mistake would bite us in the *** later, in a little safe strapped to the cargo compartment floor.
When a pilot is getting a checkride, he or she is very careful to follow all the rules, execute the checklists precisely, and manage the crew and mission to perfection. Capt F fuel planned the leg from Abidjan to Niamey with very little reserve. You see, fuel is weight, so the more fuel you carry, the more inefficiently the airplane flies. In an effort to save money, the Air Force set up rules to discourage the 'tankering' of fuel between locations where fuel is available, and with this being his checkride he wasn't taking any chances with the rules. As we approached the field in Niger the weather was thunderstorms and wind shear, so we circled a while to see if it would blow over so we could land. Before long it became apparent that we needed to make a decision, either chance an iffy approach into Niamey or head back to Abidjan. With a very small fuel reserve the option to return to Ivory Coast came and went very quickly. There was discussion about landing at an alternate field in northern Nigeria.
I need to mention here that you don't simply point your airplane in any direction that catches your fancy and land it wherever you choose, especially in the third world, or you risk becoming a smoking hole in the ground. You need Diplomatic Clearances which are usually worked out well in advance of a mission. We didn't have that for Nigeria. The only exception is during in-flight emergencies, when you can land wherever you want. The pilots decided to declare a fuel emergency and land at a field in northern Nigeria. The pilot handed Steve, at the FE panel, the approach plate so he could work up some landing data. I listened to the confusion between the co-pilot and the Niamey Approach Control over the VHF command radio. This wasn't going to be pretty.
I need you to come see me, that's no lie
The guns are getting closer, the sweat pours like the dew
That fell from the trees in Tripoli in the spring
Tom Cochrane
In 1996 I flew a mission to the African continent. I was no stranger to the adventure that was always Africa, having been to Egypt, Sierra Leon, Monrovia, Senegal, Ghana, N'Djamena, Khartoum, Kenya, Zaire, and one place I'm not allowed to talk about. The purpose of the mission was to resupply various US Embassies, but to us it was just another trash haul with decent per diem rates.
We crew-rested in Abidjan in Ivory Coast and the following day we were scheduled to fly from there to Niamey Niger, quick turn, and then on to Kinshasa Congo (formerly known as Zaire). I was one of two Flight Engineers, and we had two Loadmasters, three Pilots, and one Purser. We carried three pilots because one of them, we'll call him Capt F, was on his OME checkride to upgrade to Aircraft Commander. That meant the third pilot was a Pilot Examiner (EP). This was one of the few rare occasions I got to fly with Steve, a good friend and FE who also came from Travis AFB. We didn't often carry a purser unless we were flying to certain locations in Africa or former Soviet Bloc countries. The purser's job was to carry, dispense, and account for cash, US dollars, which were needed at airfields without contract fuel and services. The standard cash load was $50K, although some halfwit in the Finance Office decided that since we never used more than $10K there was no reason for carrying so much. We departed Charleston with $10K, a mistake would bite us in the *** later, in a little safe strapped to the cargo compartment floor.
When a pilot is getting a checkride, he or she is very careful to follow all the rules, execute the checklists precisely, and manage the crew and mission to perfection. Capt F fuel planned the leg from Abidjan to Niamey with very little reserve. You see, fuel is weight, so the more fuel you carry, the more inefficiently the airplane flies. In an effort to save money, the Air Force set up rules to discourage the 'tankering' of fuel between locations where fuel is available, and with this being his checkride he wasn't taking any chances with the rules. As we approached the field in Niger the weather was thunderstorms and wind shear, so we circled a while to see if it would blow over so we could land. Before long it became apparent that we needed to make a decision, either chance an iffy approach into Niamey or head back to Abidjan. With a very small fuel reserve the option to return to Ivory Coast came and went very quickly. There was discussion about landing at an alternate field in northern Nigeria.
I need to mention here that you don't simply point your airplane in any direction that catches your fancy and land it wherever you choose, especially in the third world, or you risk becoming a smoking hole in the ground. You need Diplomatic Clearances which are usually worked out well in advance of a mission. We didn't have that for Nigeria. The only exception is during in-flight emergencies, when you can land wherever you want. The pilots decided to declare a fuel emergency and land at a field in northern Nigeria. The pilot handed Steve, at the FE panel, the approach plate so he could work up some landing data. I listened to the confusion between the co-pilot and the Niamey Approach Control over the VHF command radio. This wasn't going to be pretty.
