Victory Highway: Unforgettable Plane Experience

plane-crash
Originally uploaded by Boyznberry.

It's Sunday morning. We're in Nairobi. The guys arrived safely from Tanzania yesterday, delighted to find the guest house has big bath tubs for them to get really clean! Their journey was uneventful, and they have lots of stories--including a marriage proposal to Don Willis.

The group from Eldoret had an adventuresome start to the journey to Nairobi. It was hard pulling ourselves away from the events at the Children's Home since there were about 500 guests and the kids kept wanting to say good-bye to the team, even getting into the vehicle for a last hug.

We arrived at the airport in good time and were delighted to be offered seats on an earlier flight. (There are NO earlier flights here. There's one flight from Eldoret in the morning and one in the evening. But an 8-seater was apparently passing through from the Maasai Mara, dropping off passengers.) The sky looked eerie with very dark clouds as a storm was brewing in the West, and the pilot asked everyone to hurry so we could beat the storm.

Seemed like someone on the ground hurried TOO much, removing the tail support beam too soon (or perhaps never putting one down). So when we were all in our seats and the pilot got in, too, he head to ask the passenger by the door to step back so he could close the door.

The weight of one more person toward the back of the plane
+ the fact that there was no tail support beam
= a very expensive mistake

Next thing the nose of the plane went up and bam! the tail hit the ground. (In case you're skimming this entry you may have missed the part that we're still ON THE GROUND, NOT MOVING. No need to panic.) So we were asked to all get out. As the pilot walked around grumbling at the ground staff for not doing their work, we carefully got out of the airplane. Dot almost flew off the tiny steps as the pilot tilted the plane back! But she didn't.

So now we can officially say we've been in a plane crash and walked away unscathed. The same cannot be said for the little airplane, though. The tail had bent upwards, so the rudder couldn't move! (The photo is of the pilot and mechanics examining the damage.)

We were, in fact, VERY happy to get into a bigger (albeit still small) plane for the flight to Nairobi. It was rather scary seeing the lightning seemingly right outside our windows as we flew into Wilson airport. And of course we didn't think it's a good idea to get into a plane that didn't have an operating rudder...

After dinner and exchanging stories, everyone was very happy to head to bed for a good night's sleep. After breakfast today, the team is heading back to Wilson airport and will indeed board a tiny 8-seater plane to fly to the Maasai Mara for a time of debriefing. They'll be flying home on Tuesday night, at which time the Siddals will return to Eldoret for another week with plenty more to do in Eldoret.

Thanks for praying for us.