Going Nose-where

Contribution by Chris Bester and Fred Brons

Goodness knows there have been some interesting times in the history of Safair and we’ve had to employ some interesting tactics from time to time.

I recall an instance where we had provided technical support services to a local passenger operator who had fallen well behind on their payments on outstanding bills. After several written warnings fell on deaf ears we decided to take some fairly drastic action.

On return of their aircraft to Johannesburg, a team of technicians from Safair noted an immediate need for vital inspection of the aircraft’s nose wheel. It was decided that said nose wheel should be removed for scrutiny – scrutiny which would be concluded once the operator had proven that all outstanding funds had been paid and received.

Fortunately, the operator managed to produce the necessary payment in time and the nose wheel was refitted before the next flight was due to be operated.

Another adventure of a similar nature nearly didn’t turn out quite so well. A group of five of us headed up to Luanda for a series of tough meetings with a client who owed us some money. 

We managed to conclude the meetings and get the payment and set about on our way home. As we entered the immigration and customs hall in Luanda we were met by an official dressed all in white. He was seated at a small table with an injection syringe lying in front of him. Let’s just say that the syringe looked like it had been around the block a few times.

Our interpreter told us that he wanted to review our vaccination documents, but the problem was only three of us actually had documents. So the three of us that had cards handed them over for inspection and then two of us quietly slipped our cards to our two colleagues who were sweating bullets at this point.

The official scrutinized the fourth man’s document for some time before eventually accepting it. The last guy handed his card over and the official decided it wasn’t good enough. He reached forward for his syringe at which point we requested that we quickly just check that we’d given him the correct one.

The document was handed back to the official, this time with a small green piece of paper wedged between the pages. Suddenly the paperwork was all in order and we rushed into that aircraft with great relief!