Giraffe which brought down a plane

Press, 11 August 1979, Page 17

Giraffe which brought down a plane

Accidents Happen. By Ann Welch. John Murray. Sketches by Piers Bois. 240 pp. Index. $7.25 (paperback).

(Reviewed by

Les Bloxham)

The pilot of a single engine aircraft on a delivery flight from the United States to South Africa decided to relieve the. tedium of his long and lonely, journey by flying as low as possible over the Kalahari Desert. The seemingly endless wastes of flatland lured him on — until a giraffe suddenly’leapt to its feet in front of him and abruptly terminated the flight.

The incident is one of the more unusual mishaps recorded by Ann Welch in this highly readable book which not only illustrates predicaments in which otherwise sensible humans can become involved, but also explores how these situations develop and how they can be avoided. The author believes that it is unrealistic to prevent accidents by regulation “which can restrict and limit the learning process or, in the ultimate, engender a disregard for the rules.” She notes that although a lot of humans do stupid things, their desire to stay alive exerts a strong regulatory influence. Sometimes, though, accidents just cannot be avoided; sometimes they even produce unexpected rewards. Abel Sintora holds the Argentinian glider height record — by accident. He was flying his Blanik in cloud when he got caught in a sudden updraught from which he could not escape. His variometer showed he was climbing at 6500 ft per minute. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was seeing ice on his wings and canopy and his altimeter spinning up through 22,000 ft. When he came to in the wreckage, he discovered that the ailerons and 12ft of each wing were missing and that the barograph

showed a vertical trace of 41,600 ft before the needle jammed. An airline pilot reported later that those particular clouds had topped at 50,000 ft. Muddled radio frequencies can produce unlikely results. The author quotes an instance concerning a nursing home where the elderly males were fitted with an electronic device which, when activated, helped them empty their bladders. Doctors could not understand why the men all wanted to go at the same time, particularly whenever the local lifeboat was called out. Inquiries showed that the boat’s radio and the men’s medical aids were on the same frequency. Although the author (a qualified pilot and instructor) concentrates mainly on accidents related to Hying, the book also covers the dangers associated with sailing, diving, climbing, electricity, and fire. But the message contained with the pages will

be of little value it, as she puts it, “the individual himself cannot learn to control his own destiny.” None of us is immune to the dangers inherent in living. Even the author confesses to a childhood adventure which “still gives me goosepimples whenever I think of it.” She recalls that, together with other children of her country village, she was fascinated by a new electrified railway, but could not understand why birds were able to sit unharmed on the electrified rail while sheep that touched it were electrocuted. The children eventually figured out that the secret of me was in not touching the ground and the rail at the same time. “After school we went along to see if it was true: that if you jumped on the rail with both feet together you did not get a shock.”

Fortunately she survived to include the incident in her excellent book and to say as humbly as we all should: “There but for the grade of God go I .