I had a pleasant surprise when a good friend of my emailed me some pictures relating to a past chapter in my flying book. These pictures brought back so many memories, good ones too. Two of the pictures I post below. Very bad quality as I had to take a picture of the PDF format he sent them to me in.
The flight in question was from East London (SA) to the Gariep Dam (SA) and back on the same day. If anyone has Sky Demon, load the SA charts and plog it. It will give you an idea as to the terrain etc over which the trip took place. I can remember this flight like it was yesterday and yet it took place nearly 17 years ago. GPS was only starting to come into its own.
The day started with an aircraft switch. I was going to do the trip in the Cardinal but for various reasons this was not possible on the day and I had to down grade to the TB10. First challenge of the day was that the TB10 had no GPS and I had no GPS so out with the map and watch. I was not phased by this, as mentioned, GPS was only coming into its own but the Cardinal had a portable one and would of made life so much more stress free. I also love the Cardinal she was a joy to fly. The next thing I had to do was to re-work the weight and balance. As lovely as the TB10 is, she did not like loads out of shortish runways and at altitude. Gariep’s elevation is just over 4,000ft with the longest runway at 1130 m and it was summer. We would be 3 up so I crawled over the performance figures with a fine tooth comb. As it turned out, we departed on the return leg with just over half fuel and while she did feel rather attached to the runway she did eventually get airborne with my sphinx still remaining in a calm state of play. 
East London has weather similar to Shoreham. It changes very fast. I departed on the return leg with weather reports as cavok but 1:15 into the trip things started to go pear shaped. The cloud base started to lower very quickly as I squeezed myself over the mountains and started my decent into East London. Unfortunately the base was lowering faster than the decent and night was drawing in. While I had my night rating, I had no meaningful instrument time and unlike some people, I don’t advocate scud running. Too many people have gone splat due to scud running or DIY approaches and before I get flamed by proponents of this type flying, just remember that saying “there but for the grace of god go I”. Egos have no place in aircraft cabins and all it takes these days is to punch in a wrong number under pressure and SPLAT. Anyhow, decision time. I had just passed Stutterheim airfield and the debate in my mind started. Should I divert or take a chance, we are only 30 minutes from base, should I risk it? I had two passengers. The chap in the right seat had flown with me loads of times and was my regular companion in the air and to whom I sang many tunes to but he was not a pilot. His wife was in the back and had no flying experience and did not really enjoy the experience. At this point the view ahead was looking nasty and I was getting down to a level that would put everyone’s safety at risk if I did not have my finger way out. I now verbalised my thoughts out loud that I would be diverting and advised ATC of this fact. Relief for me that I had made the call and I could finally stop mucking around in the shite and relief from ATC I suspect. While at no time did my passengers question my decision it did add to the psychological pressure of “getthereitis” and I suspect they did not fully understand why I did not try push through adding to the decision pressure. Anyhow, the diversion was a non event albeit that on finals I was flying the approach in less than ideal conditions and literally on touch down the rain started in earnest. As a pilot I was a very happy bunny when I felt the wheels touch down and all the intense pressure preceding this dissolved in an instant. However, to this very day I have wondered if I had made the right call or had I been too timid and we could have got into East London. We will never know as it is all history now but looking at the pictures for the first time I am now content that I made the right call and can put that ghost to rest, finally. 
It is also worth mentioning that had I proceeded to try get into East London and failed., I would have lost the “back door” and had no place to go.
I recovered the aircraft the next day, we are all alive and no one had been scared senseless that they would never fly again. It was a difficult decision to make BUT, what I guess I am trying to say is; no matter what the peer pressure is, no matter how strong the “gettheritis” is, not matter what people might think of you, fight the urge to play hero and put your passengers safety first and make that safety call. You may get away with playing the hero a zillion times but aviation has a quaint way of bringing even the most arrogant personalities to heel. Remember, “there but for the grace of god go I”.
Fly safe and thanks for reading. ? Yawn.
Sorry, “go” should read “got”………blush
