SA Flyer — Edition 263 — September 2017

46 SA Flyer Magazine

Jed jumped over a large

puddle as he dashed

through the rain towards

the terminal building for the

evening vehicle recovery

shift.

H

E strode into

pilot lounge; the

lights shone, the

television blared,

the filter coffee

machine gurgled.

He threw his damp

jacket over the

back of a chair and

glanced out of the window. Both helicopters

were on the pads. Jed snapped off the TV

and flopped down onto the chair in front of

the computer. The rain hammered down

onto the tin roof and filled the void created

by the silenced television.

Jed wrinkled his nose as he took a sip

of the bitter coffee whilst he waited for the

weather report to download. He loaded

the radar site and watched the storm

move away from the airport towards the

Pretoria CBD; the tin roof ruckus waned in

confirmation. I s’pose there will be a few

cases to catch up if the day crew have been

holed up all day, he thought.

Jed looked at his watch, snatched his

torch and hurried down the stairs to the

helipads. Heaps of time to do a thorough

pre-flight.

As he opened the cockpit door, his

phone jangled. He reached into his pocket

and grasped the phone. Mikhael’s name

flashed up on the Blackberry screen. Jed

smiled – you gotta love caller ID.

”What’s up Mikhael?”

“Hi Jed, we ... hang on ... we ...”

Jed clutched the phone between his

ear and shoulder and flicked the flight folio

open as he waited for Mikhael to isolate

himself from the chaos Jed could hear in

the background. He squinted at the flight

folio as he tried to determine the dates on

the airworthy certificate. It shouldn’t be this

dark yet. He looked up into the sky. The

dark clouds over the CBD obscured the

weak rays of the setting sun. Jed put his

phone on the chopper seat and changed to

speaker.

Ignoring the background noise from the

control room as it blared over the tiny phone

speaker, Jed shone the torchlight over the

dates on the Airworthy Certificates and the

Release to Service. The beam from the

torch faltered and dimmed. Frustrated, Jed

shook the torch and clicked the switch off

and on. The beam remained feeble. Rats!

The phone speaker hissed as the

noise from Control increased. Gees, things

must be hotting up. Mikhael’s voice burst

over the speaker, “Jed, we’ve got a case in

Mamelodi. I’ll be there in five.”

Jed stared at the silent phone – the call

had been dropped. Just five minutes! He

hated being rushed. He closed the flight

folio and got going: Battery - ON. Lights

• ON. Fuel quantity - FULL. Control panel
  lights - WORKING.
  Jed paced around the machine and
  checked the external lights. Satisfied, he
  leaned over the pilot seat and switched the
  lights and battery off again. As he pulled
  his head back out, a stray raindrop plopped
  onto his ear.
  He gazed at the sky. The clouds had
  dissipated. He shook his head and brushed
  the drop off his ear with the cuff of his flight
  suit. He picked up the fuel sample test-tube,
  opened the main tank drain and topped
  up the test-tube. He turned on his torch to
  study the fuel, but there was no illumination.
  Damn, I don’t have time to get my other
  batteries from my flight bag. Aaargh, I hate
  being rushed!

heli Ops

Karen Vlantis

FUEL PUMPED & RARING TO GO

Michael Rice

The R44 had to be refuelled in the rain.