Only in Zimbabwe: plane runs out of fuel … while in the air!
June 23rd, 2005
Apparently on Monday afternoon farm workers in the Nyamandlovhu area just outside Bulawayo were shocked to witness a Zimbabwe air force Gennet aircraft make a dramatic descent on to a disused field. Fortunately both the flying instructor and the trainee pilot emerged from the wreck unscathed.
They were out on a routine training session when they ran out of fuel, and so were forced to make this emergency landing. The plane has apparently lost its nose and a wing. An air force chopper arrived from Thornhill air base in Gweru to collect them, but the trainee pilot was told he had to stay and guard the plane, being left without food or blankets! The cost of sending the chopper is outrageous and as for the cost of repairing the aircraft when the country’s economy is on its knees, well who knows.
The locals have been forbidden from taking photographs and the site is now being guarded by state agents. The aircraft will have to be removed by a flat bed truck and I, for one, cannot wait to see it being carried through Bulawayo.
Only in Zim does a plane run out of fuel, the absurdity of life here continues.
