I am a figment of my own imagination
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Posts: 726
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When flying 402's in charter in Kenya we had a call out to take some pax from a tech problem in Eldoret. Tech problem was a 402 in the field adjoining the end of the runway after failing to get airborne and overrunning. I parked at terminal and went up to see the pilot who was still sitting up at the wrecked aircraft and obviously distressed though luckily unhurt. High alt, high temp, heavy load, and a strip half grass half tarmac with a slope and a stong wind down the hill, the grass half was the top part of runway had all resulted in the first accident in his 9,000 hrs accident free flying. After commiserating I returned to find that the pax had loaded their own luggage and were now ready to go. All large Swedes they proudly informed me that they were 'hard men' and the previous accident had made no adverse impression on them. They wer ready to go, and by the way could I kindly hop to it as they had a schedule to keep. They were less than impressed when I insisted on unpacking their bags and asking to have them weighed first. I then tried to impress upon them that perhaps the fact that we were overweight might mean a repeat performance which I was not prepared to oblige. I was very pushed to get this over despite their previous lucky escape. They were pretty hard men as I recall, solid skulled as well. Some pax will just not listen even after the most dramatic of examples.
Comiserations to the victims of this one