GOONEY BIRD Safari

Air Classics, Feb 2005 by Koppen, Jan

Time passed quickly, and before long we started descent at 120-kts with 25-ins and 2050-rpm. About 15 nautical miles from Gabarone, Johan pointed out that Gabarone was appearing on the horizon. Necks were craned to watch for any other traffic as we entered a standard right-hand circuit. Gabarone Approach handed us over to tower at 118.30 and shortly afterwards Johan called for gear down, flaps and 23-ins manifold pressure with 2050-rpm on the props. With all the landing checklist items ticked off, we were on short final to Gabarone's runway 08. With the engines throttled back to 17-ins and full flaps, we glided over the threshold. seconds later power was cut and after a single brief skip and a bit of pushing and pulling, Johan edged the controls forward to pin the sturdy Douglas on the runway. A few seconds later, the tai!wheel came down. Laurie retracted the flaps while Johan started squeezing the brakes and soon we were slowed down to walking pace, only using up less than half the runway. Laurie completed the rest of the after-landing checks, while Johan back-tracked along the runway to our assigned parking spot close to the modem control tower. On block-arrival, Laurie closed the fuel mixture levers, shutting down the engines. As the propellers wound down, we were greeted by a bustling group of ground handlers, eager to unload our cargo. We left for the small airport terminal canteen to buy a cool refreshment.

Gabarone, the capital of Botswana, is situated along the border with South Africa. The airport is located just outside the city and, for a small airport, has some interesting aircraft. Air Botswana's ATR42s and BA-Ho-ZOOs are all based here and, in a corner of the airport, Spectrum's Turbo Dakota was parked. In front of the terminal, two Airtech CN-235s of the Botswana Air Force were present. Other visitors were several light aircraft of DHL and some local operators.

Unfortunately for me, our time on the ground was a scant 45 minutes. ZS-DIW had been unloaded and our time for departure came. Our return trip to Jo'burg - now operating as Air Botswana 9281 - tracked low over the Pilanesberg wildlife park and essentially retraced our outward journey.

The air rapidly became turbulent. Heavy thundershowers, lightning and hail were coming down as we neared Sun City. The controls required a fair amount of muscle power but the two Pratt & Whitney radiais kept humming reassuringly. We began our descent well before reaching Johannesburg City. With rain still pounding on the fuselage, the tower vectored us for a left base to runway 03R. As we turned onto final, the approach lights confirmed we were right on the glide slope. With the characteristic squeal of tires, we were back on the ground.

As we were taxiing back to our parking spot, I reflected on what a great day it had been and how lucky I had been to be able to fly such historic craft and I hope that round-engined classics like DIW will continue to meet the challenges of South Africa's unique operating conditions.