African airliner crashes; pig blamed!

What you see here is a bushpig, a smaller and better-looking cousin of a wart-hog. They are to be found in many parts of Africa, even in the airports of capital cities like Ha-ha-harare, capital of the "nation" of Zimbabwe.

The pilot of an Air Zimbabwe MA60 (a Chinese-built prop job) discovered this to his chagrin last week when he hit one on takeoff. Damage to the nose, a wingtip and a propeller forced a bumpier and quicker-than-usual landing.

The statement released by the Zimbabwe Transport Ministry led us to believe that the incident was minor. No-one was killed and only a couple of people were hurt during the evacuation of the plane.

However, what the mishap reveals is the extent to which the country's Civil Aviation Authority (CAAZ) and the national airline have gone the way of its other frayed and failed institutions.
A letter which appeared briefly in the Zimbabwe Standard (now apparently removed) recounted details more serious than the ministry admitted.

The writer, quoted in The Times, said it was "by God’s grace" that he and the other 37 passengers and crew had not all perished. It was plain, he said, that the airline had "no disaster response strategy" and its personnel "did not have a clue" of what to do in a crisis. “The plane was just about to lift off when we heard a loud bang from underneath followed by violent shaking of the entire aircraft.

"The aircraft veered off the runway into the grass before it came to a halt. Smoke and dust engulfed the cabin as passengers screamed for dear life.” With a petrified hostess shrieking "Evacuate!", they discovered that one of the emergency exits was jammed. Passengers were able to jump out of the stricken plane only after the main doors were pried open by hand.

The Times reports that airport emergency rescue service took five minutes to reach the plane. Agent 3, who spent several years in Zimbabwe, suggests that possibly they had no fuel and had to syphon some from cars in the passenger parking lot. They were beaten by a contingent of secret police, whose first act was to arrest two passengers for taking photographs.

There was no medical care for the injured, the Times report continues, and it took an hour for an Air Zimbabwe manager to have water distributed. He tried to reassure them by saying that the airline’s chief executive was on his way to the airport. "The passengers retorted that they did not eat CEOs," said the Standard's informant.

Agent 3 comments that AirZim hostesses are known to be selected by means of "carpet interviews". The only emergency training they receive is how to get out from under a bulky cabinet minister or AirZim executive, should one collapse on top of them while they perform their duties.

Thanks to Agent 17 for passing on the story.