ZAZOO
18th May 2006, 20:04
I asked myself why put this on pprune!!! After all who cares, most of what we do here is who is doing what and whats going on here and there!
But today its different very different for me.... Today I would like to pay homage to my friend Papasam!
Here at B3 I like to take pride in the quality of our engineers and their dedication to our Aircrafts but especialy my favourite engineer the old man!
Samuel is a congolese and has worked most of his life as an engineer all over the world and I came to meet Samuel here at B3 and fell in love with this man almost immediately he had so much passion for his job and dedicated his whole time to keep our 737-200 fleet flying and as much as he could do in his little capacity in top shape.
Sam spent his whole time on the ramp, in the hanger or flying with us on the west coast routes which require an engineer on the flight. He worked all the time when he was on the ground spending whole nights in the hanger, he loved his job.
When I resume for work in the morning on west coast flights and found Sam there on the ramp it was a delight, he always had a big smile for me but was always in a hurry to get something straightened out before our departure. After takeoff I would chase him out of the flight deck so he could go take a snooze at the rear and the farther that service was along the west coast the better I felt for him cos I knew he would have a good nap. This man never stopped working when he gets off the aircraft in Lagos. Sam was loved by everybody who knew him here at the Lagos airport.
Sam taught me a lot of things and got me digging into my systems manuals lots of times when I got home cos he had pointed out something to me out of my curiosity on various visits to the hanger while he was working, that I felt maybe I had to go brush up a little more on that one. Sam took every technical report or queries by the pilots very serious and made sure it was rectified asap depending on how fast management would respond to him, most times he would be frustrated cos things ere not moving as fast as he wanted them to go when it came to caring for his babies 5N-BFM, 5N-BFX and FG-HXL.
Simply put Sam was the best I had seen so far!
On Tuesday 16th of May I had good ol Sam with me on my west coast flight and we had quite a bit of weather on the west coast and could not go into Abidjan and diverted back to Accra. It was a rough ride that morning and Sam stuck with us in the cockpit, it was nice to have him there with us.
On ground Accra Sam told me on the ramp while having a few moments to ourselves about taking his retirement at the end of the year, he felt he had put in enough and that Nigeria had tired him out. As usual I teased him about going nowhere and we scampered back up to the galley for a well deserved good ol B3 breakfast.
Later that night we arrived back in Lagos late evening and bade each other a bientot as we always did, you see Sam also had this french accent that everybody loved. As I got into the crew bus I caught sight of Sam hurrying down the ramp with his maglite and toolbox!!! yep that was Sam going straight back to work. I sighed and that was our day for me but not for Sam he just had to go on.
At about 6:30pm yesterday evening in Lagos by Shonibare bus-stop Sam had just stepped off a bus when an Okada Bike Taxi ran him over right there as he got off the bus, the bikeman took to his heels and a crowd gathered as is typical here in Lagos and just gapped at him lying on the roadside, our able crew bus driver was passing by when he noticed the crowd and got sight of his green B3 high visibility jacket Sam usualy had on and found out it was old Sam, he rushed Sam to a nearby hospital and at about 9:00 pm, two and a half hours later Sam passed away.
I was told by the bus driver that as hard as the bike hit Sam the old man still struggled back up on his feet, but helas the concursion he had at the back of his head was too much and he slumped back down on the roadside. I can believe that of Sam, typical.
Samuel aka Papasam, by all who knew and loved him here at Lagos Airport was 60yrs old, a simple man and he was my friend and was about to retire at the end of this year.
I miss you so much Papasam.
A'bientot, A'bientot, A'bientot
But today its different very different for me.... Today I would like to pay homage to my friend Papasam!
Here at B3 I like to take pride in the quality of our engineers and their dedication to our Aircrafts but especialy my favourite engineer the old man!
Samuel is a congolese and has worked most of his life as an engineer all over the world and I came to meet Samuel here at B3 and fell in love with this man almost immediately he had so much passion for his job and dedicated his whole time to keep our 737-200 fleet flying and as much as he could do in his little capacity in top shape.
Sam spent his whole time on the ramp, in the hanger or flying with us on the west coast routes which require an engineer on the flight. He worked all the time when he was on the ground spending whole nights in the hanger, he loved his job.
When I resume for work in the morning on west coast flights and found Sam there on the ramp it was a delight, he always had a big smile for me but was always in a hurry to get something straightened out before our departure. After takeoff I would chase him out of the flight deck so he could go take a snooze at the rear and the farther that service was along the west coast the better I felt for him cos I knew he would have a good nap. This man never stopped working when he gets off the aircraft in Lagos. Sam was loved by everybody who knew him here at the Lagos airport.
Sam taught me a lot of things and got me digging into my systems manuals lots of times when I got home cos he had pointed out something to me out of my curiosity on various visits to the hanger while he was working, that I felt maybe I had to go brush up a little more on that one. Sam took every technical report or queries by the pilots very serious and made sure it was rectified asap depending on how fast management would respond to him, most times he would be frustrated cos things ere not moving as fast as he wanted them to go when it came to caring for his babies 5N-BFM, 5N-BFX and FG-HXL.
Simply put Sam was the best I had seen so far!
On Tuesday 16th of May I had good ol Sam with me on my west coast flight and we had quite a bit of weather on the west coast and could not go into Abidjan and diverted back to Accra. It was a rough ride that morning and Sam stuck with us in the cockpit, it was nice to have him there with us.
On ground Accra Sam told me on the ramp while having a few moments to ourselves about taking his retirement at the end of the year, he felt he had put in enough and that Nigeria had tired him out. As usual I teased him about going nowhere and we scampered back up to the galley for a well deserved good ol B3 breakfast.
Later that night we arrived back in Lagos late evening and bade each other a bientot as we always did, you see Sam also had this french accent that everybody loved. As I got into the crew bus I caught sight of Sam hurrying down the ramp with his maglite and toolbox!!! yep that was Sam going straight back to work. I sighed and that was our day for me but not for Sam he just had to go on.
At about 6:30pm yesterday evening in Lagos by Shonibare bus-stop Sam had just stepped off a bus when an Okada Bike Taxi ran him over right there as he got off the bus, the bikeman took to his heels and a crowd gathered as is typical here in Lagos and just gapped at him lying on the roadside, our able crew bus driver was passing by when he noticed the crowd and got sight of his green B3 high visibility jacket Sam usualy had on and found out it was old Sam, he rushed Sam to a nearby hospital and at about 9:00 pm, two and a half hours later Sam passed away.
I was told by the bus driver that as hard as the bike hit Sam the old man still struggled back up on his feet, but helas the concursion he had at the back of his head was too much and he slumped back down on the roadside. I can believe that of Sam, typical.
Samuel aka Papasam, by all who knew and loved him here at Lagos Airport was 60yrs old, a simple man and he was my friend and was about to retire at the end of this year.
I miss you so much Papasam.
A'bientot, A'bientot, A'bientot