One of the hazards of skimming the surface of the planet is that there are sometimes some natural events that occupy the same airspace. In my case it was a swarm of locusts. We were on a det in the Cameroons which was under a military dictatorship and not helpful. The sudden encounter with the swarm was heralded by the effect of flying through a custard tart fight. All forward visibility disappeared in yellow goo. The engine temps went up and a very nasty smell of well done locusts pervaded the flight deck. As in the song The only way was up. We landed at Douala with the DV windows open and both pilots craning over to see. A serious inspection followed with crispy insects being retrieved from all Albert's forward facing orifices. Piles of them dropped from the flaps and undercarriage bay. It was at this point that one of the AGEs said "Perhaps this isn't the best time to say that we will be out of LOX soon"
Cosmic.
The Cameroons used gaseous oxygen and we had no dip clearance for anywhere in Africa because we arrived over the sea.
" Only option is to go to Asi" I said
"Rude word" said the captain. However,the case was put to our customers and the boss (whom we sprang from jail for not having his "laissez passer special" on him) said we could take a day off while he stopped his mountain boys going for a swim in the lake which emitted poisonous gas bubbles from the volcanic magma it sat on.
Off we went then on a 5hr each way LOX run to Asi. The GEs had loaded up with fake Rolex watches to flog to the ground crew there. The charging was very slick and we re-rationed for the rest of the det. The GE's came back rich and we were back in Africa only 17 hours after we left. Hell of a day off.
