Originally Posted by
Ascend Charlie
Back in 2003, I was waiting at the eastern GA area at KSA for the arrival of a Gulfstream from NZ, due to land at 2130. The main passenger was Tom Cruise, and the Customs and Immigration people were waiting inside, as well as Junior Boss and Big Boss - who never liked to wait for anybody, and had arrived at 2130 expecting to leap into the chopper and go. But no. Tom was late leaving NZ and was hitting big headwinds across the puddle. Big Boss fuming.
Time dragged on. Choppers have a curfew of 2300, and at 2215 I rang the lady in charge to see if I could get a dispensation to leave a few minutes later. When I asked her, she said "No." I said that it was pretty important that we take off, so she asks "Is this a medical emergency?"
"It will be, because Big Boss will tear my @rse out if we can't go."
"Well, wait till he has torn it out and then call me, but if nobody is dying, nobody goes."
"How about if we ground taxy (on wheels) to the end of 16L and depart over water through the heads from there?"
"No."
Luckily around 2240 the jet arrived, the customs people did their thing, and we were airborne at 2257. I was glad to have my rear end intact.
I would assume Ascend Charlie wishes to maintain confidentiatity. The "Big Boss" was also known in some circles as the Goanna! Google it if you still can't work it out