Can anyone tell me about Ettiene Botes?

[Hobgoblin]

Ettienne was a friend of mine, we both did our PPLs at Cape Flying Services and subsequently studied together for our SA Comm licenses.

However due to our lives taking different paths he ended up flying in Namibia and I believe the Central African Republic while I went to the Caribbean. We remained in touch via e mail until his mails started coming back from Hotmail as unknown recipient. I assumed that he had let his membership lapse due to not being able to access the Internet ( it had happened before ) and would send a mail every so often.

To make a long story short and stop boring everyone the reason he wasn't getting in touch is that he had sadly passed away. As I do not really know the details I was wondering if someone can tell me what happened .

Also if you worked with him it would be nice to hear a couple of stories of what he got up to when he was being himself!

[trubru]

Was his nick name ET?
Did he pass away in his sleep round about May 2003 in Windhoek?

[nomoneynowek]

ET, or "extra testicle", as he used to introduce himself as to pretty ladies, was a legend and there are far too many stories of his escapades that I can think of to type here with 2 fingers!

Needless to say he is missed by all that knew him, and he kept things very entertaining during the 3 years I was in Windhoek.

Congenital respiratory problems I believe was his undoing...... and there we all thought it would be the Captain!!!:sad: :ok:

Go well ET

[Airforce1]

What a great lad,always had a laugh with old ET. You would shiver when he flew into town-cos you KNEW it was gonna be a party,
who can forget the way he would always say,
"thats riiiiiiight(in hush tone)"

RIP

[Hobgoblin]

Sounds like the guy I knew, he was great mates with my dad and used to visit him whenever he was in town. My dad used to call him Beavis.

I could not believe when I heard it. Still can't. Would have loved to have flown together a bit more.

Take it easy Beavis.

[Cessnafan]

Hell I had lots lots of time for that guy! he was always the same, even at 03:30 in the morn on those freight runs!
Good chap that!

[gerrit pols]

Etienne was the craziest guy I have ever seen.....!!
The first time I saw him at CFS, I thaught, what a jerk this guy is..!!!
Met him 3 years later in Windhoek (Namibia).
Together we worked for Desert Air.
I remember on one flight we picked up passengers in 3 C-210's.
Ettiene, me, and our boss, had to fly these people to Epupa Falls.
Etienne took off first, and instead of turning right on track, he turned left, made a wider angle getting on track, which ofcourse the boss didn't like......!!
I took off second behind ET and forgot to get my gear up.....!!!!
After about 10 miles, my boss says... Etienne waarheen vlieg jiy vandaag..... en Gerrit...haal jij die wiel nog op...???
As you can imagine......not too much was said on the radio after that.......!! Etienne and I laught about this ever after......!!

Great Guy......unbeleavable character......!!

To me .... the lesson learned was..... don't believe what you see on first sight....!!!!
Etienne didn't look like Tom Cruise.......but his balls were greater than chuck Yeagers...!!!

Take care my friend and kick ass in heaven......!!!!!

Die Kaaskop...!!

[trubru]

"That'ss Riiiiiiiiiight!" (hush tone)

[gerrit pols]

Oh Yeah, Etienne, one thing I forgot.........!!

While your up there, please give my kind regards to Hein Yannik and John Branca. I am sure they are making a Helluvelot of noise too.............!!!!!!!

Het gaan jullie goed daarboven.

Gerrit.

[Turbo-driver]

Hi All,

I am one of the happy persons that got to meet ET. What a great guy.

He initially started with Dessert Air in Namibia around the end of 1999. (was leuk he Gerrit) I think it was in 2001 that he joined the company I was working for, Comav. We did many scheduled and freight flights together. What a joy....."that's riiiiiight".

Someone mentioned Beavis. It actually was Beavis and Buthead. One of his best mates in Nam was George. Those two together.....the perfect couple!

I left Namibia in February 2003 to go back to Holland and a short while later he passed away.

Very said story...with lots of good memories and to many stories to tell.

Take care ET

[Ttailed]

Yup he was a legend.

Had many good a time with ET. ET my brothers say hi and my clitsters miss you !

RIP

Tt

[Beechdrivr]

Hi everyone.

I was very good friends with ET and the saying 'First impressions last' is so apt to person of his calibre.

I met him in '98 when we were on Atp groundschool. The first night of the course he casually walked in dressed in a Castle lager t-shirt and a Carling Black Label cap with hair passed his shoulders and all i could think was 'sheesh can you believe this guy!!!' Most of the guys became friends with him very shortly after that... and who would forget him bringing a 6 pack to class.... only ET!!

We ended up in Nam. together where we flew everything from airlines to contracts and even caused a lot of mayhem together... the stories too numerous to fit onto this post.

To those who knew him well, who will ever forget the 'windmeul' and 'piesang' which he did much to the horror of the girls of course and to the delight and laughter of all the guys egging him on!!! He was a legend and standup guy.

My fondest memory of him and i'm sure most of you will agree with me, was of him always holding a cold beer in his hand and a smile and him uttering that famous phrase of his 'mmmmmm thaaaat's riiiiiight!!' followed by a mischievous little smile:E

Et my bud, take it easy up there, don't cause too much mayhem and have a few on us if you please!!:ok:

Beechdrivr:sad:

[Hobgoblin]

I remember that ET believed in having a quick brew or two before, as he put it "cruising" in to the exam room as it helped him relax for the exam. He was the bane of poor old Nancy's existence, she would always just shake her head at him while he just grinned at her. (I am sitting here with a big grin myself just remembering it.)

One of a kind that guy. Sorely missed by all that knew him.

[Rand$]

Good old ET.
a scholar and a gentleman...and a bloody hooligan.
Maybe Chuck Yeagers balls....but also a man with a big heart.

Who could forget the Shack at the airport that was home?!

one of my fondest memories....ET ordered a large draught beer at a fine drinking establishment in Windhoek. He then Gulped the entire beer in one go. After a few seconds later he puked it back into the glass without spilling a drop. He He then Summoned the waitress and said he thought the beer was off - its didnt look so good (a little murky by now with bits in it). She was mortified and propmptly replaced it for him.

That was execrement! thats riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!

Never seen a longer tongue in my life.

what other great sayings did the ET man have??? there were plenty.

I miss the laughs. You were inspiration to us all ET.:ok:

...and cents.

[Gunship]

:sad:

Never knew Ettiene but spoke to a few guys that knew him.

What a character and a great guy he was as told by them.

RIP Ettiene - you are sorely missed by some good friends.

:sad:

[vaninnam]

To All ET"s mates

We had a huge send off for ET ar EROS airport huge amount of beer huge amount meat that caused huge delays the next day.
He is surely missed by all of us in NAM.
Only after his death did we all hear about his secret illness he was living with.Not telling a sole as he did not want any pitty or special favours.That is why he lived life to the fullest as he knew he didnt have long.If you think about it he didnt even buy a car.
But every now and again we think about the "kak " we caused ET"s name does pop up often.
He did how ever achieve to get an ATP and fly JET command all be it A citation.
He is surely missed by all and his grin will will live with us forever
Regards
Francois van Niekerk
O yes he did have us all kicked out of the swift club for hanging his ***** in a whiskey glass but it was worth it.

[Beechdrivr]

Hey Fran!

How ya doing mate? Still enjoying the 73? Send my best to all the boys and girls down there.... yip all those stories regarding ET still makes me laugh when i think back on them.... we did have some good times at the 'Swift'.

We must get together for an ale sometime.

Best regards BD