This is my first post on my "what am I doing" blog. This month I am flying between
Ostend, Belgium and
Nairobi, Kenya. I don't have any over night stays, but I will also be landing at
Lagos, Nigeria, and
Benghazi, Libya.
Pictured from the left is Rick Saunders, Brady Reid and me. We had a 63 hour lay over in Nairobi so we went to see some big animals at
Nairobi National Park. We did see two of the "Big 5" (water buffalo and rhino) along with giraffe, antelope, wildebeest, eland, zebra, gazelle monkeys, many different birds.
Getting down to Nairobi was somewhat difficult though. The duty day was almost 22 hours long. Climbing out of
Ostend we noticed that our number 7 tire was
losing pressure and by the time we were at our cruising altitude it had no pressure at all. The company wanted us to continue the flight which would mean that our mechanic, Sebastian, would have to change two tires after we landed (most of the time when one tire is low, the one
opposite it on the same truck must also be changed). Before we landed on our first leg to Lagos, we called the tower to ask that the fire department be standing by for our landing. Just a
precaution, because things could go wrong fast if that tire came apart. The landing was univentful, the cargo was off loaded and two tires were changed in no time at all. We were all ready to go and called the tower for push-back and engine start - thats when the day got really long. The tower informed us that we needed an inspection by their nations equivient to the FAA (the
NCAA). It took a while for us to figure out how to get in contact with the NCAA and then longer for them to get to the aircraft. It took them no time at all, however, to notice that our mechanic did not have all his paperwork. Then we waited 3 hours for an e-mail to get through with the needed paper work so we could leave. Then we only had another 5 and a half hours to get to Nairobi. Just another day in the life.
