Sunday 18 May 2008

Un désastre, - Un succès





Il y a huit ans, un avion, "Piper Navajo Chieftain", VH-MZK, était juste quelques minutes d'un atterrissage de nuit sombre, quand le pilote a enregistré que le moteur avait échoué.
Dans des minutes il est descendu en piqué dans la mer à plus de 200 km/h, détruisant chacune des huit personnes à bord. Cette ligne aérienne a depuis, cessé de fonctionner. Quelques semaines plus tard, j'ai loué sa "soeur", VH-BYG, pour voler au-dessus de l'Australie centrale et pour visualiser le "Marree Man" .
J'ai cru que vous voudriez voir que nous ne sommes pas devenus mouillés!
Aujourd'hui il a plu tout le jour, ici à Adelaïde et vous allez juste avoir une leçon d'histoire. Un bon week-end à tous.

One disaster. One success.
Eight years ago, a PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain, VH-MZK, was just minutes from a dark, night landing when the pilot reported engine failure.
Within minutes it nosedived into the sea at more than 200 km/h, killing all eight people on board. This airline has since ceased operating.
A few months later, I rented its "sister", Navajo Chieftain, VH-BYG to fly over central Australia and to view the "Marree Man" .
I thought you might like to see that we did not get wet.
Today it has rained all day, here in Adelaide and you are just going to have a history lesson.

7 comments:

Marie said...

Funny looking plane. You were brave!

dive said...

Cool, MB.
I do love tooling around in small planes, though we've got nothing as good as the Marree Man to look at around here.

drpack said...

I remember it all too well. Lost the mother of one ex-student and both parents of a girl I was teaching at the time. It was a tough year.
Plus, having lived in Whyalla for about 8 years, it hit close to home.
Hopefully, we will never see anything like that happen again.

Kris McCracken said...

I’m not sure I’d have the stomach for that journey! I can’t wait to see the photos of your trip.

Ame said...

HEY MB2! LOL!

Looks TRES FUN!!!!

Gotta fly myself but will be back in these here parts SOON!

And I promise not to spit backwards...maybe upside DOWN!

;)
xo

Jules said...

We have flown all over PNG in very small planes - it is the only way to fly - I love it and have actually taken the controls on a few occasions BUT we have had a couple of really hairy moments (not while I was flying) and i have the spoiled shorts to prove it!!!

Chuck Pefley said...

Sad story and comments. We take air travel pretty much for granted, most of us, and rightly so as it is statistically quite safe. However, like everything else, it is not 100% guaranteed.

Many years ago I encountered the slogan "Eat dessert first - Life is uncertain". Given that this slogan was from the Great Pacific Dessert Company, it was a bit self-serving. Nonetheless, the idea is true, and has stuck with me through the years.

Cheers, Chuck