ATTITUDE FOR ALTITUDE: GUY LEITCH
THREE DEATHS A YEAR AGO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC SEEMED MORE IMAGINARY THAN A REAL THREAT. WHEN THE STATE OF DISASTER WITH ITS LOCKDOWN REGULATIONS WAS INTRODUCED IN MARCH 2020, THERE WAS GENERAL SCEPTICISM, AND AT BEST RELUCTANT COMPLIANCE, IN MANY QUARTERS. BUT NOW IT’S HITTING HOME – FELLING MANY GIANTS IN THE AVIATION COMMUNITY. THIS COLUMN IS ABOUT JUST THREE OF THE LARGER THAN LIFE CHARACTERS WHO HAVE BEEN TAKEN FROM US BY COVID-19.
IN December the second wave of the pandemic
people we know and love. Where previously
hit, and this time it’s far more virulent that the first
there was reluctant compliance, or even civil
strain of the virus. Yet the lockdown regulations
disobedience, against the Covid-19 lockdown,
have remined less restrictive than they were for
now people are voluntarily staying home and
the first wave. This is presumably in response to
self-isolating, above and beyond the legal
the decimation of the South African economy by
requirements. This is because people we know
the first wave restrictions.
are dying – and many of these are people we, in
As an aside, South Africa has now achieved world-wide notoriety as the source of what has come to be called the South African variant.
respect. I would like to take the opportunity to pay my
(It could have come from anywhere, but South
respects to three stalwarts of the industry – who
Africa was the first to identify it).
have had an immense impact for good on so
The second wave has now hit home, killing
16
the aviation community, have grown to love and
February 2021
many of our lives.
