CAIRO
The Cairo Mail Plane
I
n the late 70’s there was a weekly UN plane flying from Jerusalem to Cairo with mail, peacekeepers, general UN staff and the like. Our dad had a friend in the UN agency that operated the plane and so it was possible for us to hitch a ride with the flying mail service when it had extra capacity. We kids thought it sounded very exciting to fly with a UN plane but it turned out to be more exciting than we had bargained for. At first glance the plane looked like could be expected .A medium sized propeller
plane with seats for around 50,painted white except for large blue UN letters. Apart from a small group of soldiers we were the only passengers. The two pilots were British colonial types into their sixties who we had been told had WW2 experience. They certainly looked and sounded the part in their olive-green uniforms, one of them the proud owner of a twirling moustache. The plane was fueled and ready to go when the first problems began to appear. The two pilots were unable to close the doors. For about 15 minutes the pilots
struggled sweating and cursing. They finally succeeded, smiled reassuringly at us kids and disappeared into the cockpit. The difficulties however weren’t over yet. It turned out the nosewheel was stuck and unable to turn. One of the pilots explained the situation over the intercom but told us not to worry, they would steer the plane to it’s takeoff position by braking on the left wheel to turn left, braking on the right wheel to turn right..hmmm… Someone in the family commented somewhat unhelpfully that it was Friday the 13..Nervous laughter was
followed by an uneasy silence. However the plane “braked” it’s way to it’s takeoff position and got itself airborne without further incident. After around an hours flight we landed safely in Cairo and “braked” our way to our stopping position. It felt good to be on solid ground and even the door was in better spirits, yielding to the pilots’ efforts without too much resistance were now ready to enjoy the wonders of Cairo .The pyramids, the Sphinx, the Egyptian museum and the old souk lay before us. – A I N O & M A R T I N F R I I S, VIENNA AUSTRIA
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