September 28, 2020 • 14 mins
Our 20th Episode and the end of season one.
In this episode: Aviation Accidents are on the increase and I lose some very good friends, I am offered another job and a contract is hard to refuse, and I experience my first piranha fish encounter on a company boat trip, which puts me off fish for life.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Enid Otun (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to the next episode of if women
were meant to fly, the sky wouldbe pink to the rescue. I'm Enid
Otun. In this episode, aviationaccidents are on the increase,
and I lose some very goodfriends. I am offered another
job and a contract is hard torefuse. And I experienced my
(00:23):
first Parana fishing counter ona company boat trip, which puts
me off fish for life.
(00:59):
Before I start this 20thepisode, yes 20 episodes, which
marks the end of season one. Iwant to say how grateful I am to
all our listeners and followersfor doing just that. Listening
and following my life story. Ithas been a pleasure to share the
highs and lows, the rawness,honesty, sadness and elation
(01:23):
with all of you. Season Two willhopefully share more of the
same. My aspirations for thispodcast were not only to tell my
life story, but to highlight themany things that accompanied me
as my journey progressed. Thehomophobia, misogyny, prejudice
and trauma, which all form partof my story from childhood to
(01:47):
adulthood. I was hopeful that Icould reach out to people who
may have experienced any of thesame things I did, who may have
previously struggled or who arestruggling now with some hope
and strength, and support. If Ihave been able to reach even
just one person with a word, athought, an experience, then my
(02:10):
job would be done. I have usedthe medium of what I know best,
aviation to share my story, butthat is just the vehicle. So as
I continue on this journey, I amexcited to share more of my life
with you all. With the growth ofaviation in Nigeria, we were
(02:31):
introducing more and moreaircraft and more and more
players in the field of companyownership. More wet lease
aircraft were arriving, manyfrom Eastern Europe where the
aircraft and the crew wereleased as a package.
Sometimes it seemed that properprecautions were not adhered to
with catastrophic consequences.
On November 28 1983, a NigeriaAirways Fokker F28 fellowship
(02:57):
jet crashed on final approach toEnugu airport, which is in the
east of Nigeria, where thevisibility was below the minimum
descent altitude, due to thickfog. The crew elected to
continue in spite of this, andthe aircraft crashed, killing 53
people, including two crew. OnJanuary 10 1987, a DC 10
(03:22):
belonging to Nigeria Airways wascarrying out a training flight
at Ilorin, which is 130 nauticalmiles north of Lagos. The crews
were carrying out touch and go'swhere the aircraft lands and
then immediately takes off againfor another circuit essentially
to practice landings. With theaircraft high on the approach,
(03:46):
and a situation rapidlydeveloping where a decision was
to be made regarding abandoningthe landing to try again,
coupled with apparent confusionon the flight deck with regard
to procedure and decisionmaking, the visibility too close
to the minimums, the aircraftmade a heavy landing and overan
the runway, which resulted in afire which was not adequately
(04:08):
contained by the airport FireService. All nine crew members,
including the instructor, andthe trainees, survived.
Training procedures, operatingprocedures, airport facilities
and regulation all needed toimprove as aviation grew, and
this was not happening fastenough. As experienced grew, it
(04:31):
was tempting to think that youcould push the boundaries of
both your knowledge and theaircraft in order to achieve a
successful outcome. However,many times this proved not to be
the case. Airmanship andadherence to the rules, as well
as a healthy respect for mothernature who could provide
(04:51):
ferocious weather, needed to beconstantly followed.
Every time an accident happened,my heart would skip a beat. The
(05:14):
aviation community was still arelatively small one in those
days, and it was likely that youknew the crew. With Search and
Rescue services very poor at thetime, it was also likely that
you may be involved in some wayin trying to provide assistance.
Unbeknownst to me, I would inthe years to come experience
more and more of this type ofloss. With the private sector
(05:38):
becoming busier, the resultantrequirement for more flights,
grew. I was at work more andhome less. I also spent a lot of
time in restaurants and cafes.
Often I could be found in theAero Contractors restaurant
further up the ramp from us. Itserved good food, and was a
place to meet colleagues fromdifferent companies. The crews
from different operations wouldoften come together to meet and
(06:01):
impart urgent and relevantinformation from their flights
around the country. The state ofnavigation aids, fuel
availability as well as airportand runway conditions as well as
helpful company frequencies werejust some of the information
that was freely distributed foronward transmission to crews,
who flew the length and breadthof the country. This was often
(06:22):
the surest and simplest way ofadding relevant information to
charts and procedures, before itwas made official by the
relevant authorities. On onesuch occasion, one of the Aero
Contractors training captainswas present and introduced
himself to me. We got talkingabout our respective schedules,
and before long he inquiredabout what it was like working
(06:45):
at Bristows with the Shellrequirements for experience
being so high. I repliedhonestly, that as I was close to
this goal now, it would remainto be seen how they handled the
promotion of copilots, who hadrisen through the ranks. Nothing
was a given, but I was hopefulthat they would see the worth of
the crews they had helped todevelop. I had just taken a
(07:05):
large bite out of my ham andcheese toastie, when he said,
come work for us. You'll be acaptain very quickly and
possibly a training Captainafter that. I've heard only good
things about you and I canguarantee you a command. I
spluttered and proceeded to turnbright red as I weighed up an
offer that I had not expected,with the possibility of choking
(07:27):
to death on my toasty, beforeI'd given him an answer. What
just happened? He could tell Iwas shocked and asked why. Did I
not realize that I was soughtafter? I replied that I didn't
have the faintest idea that thecommunity felt that way. He left
me to think on it and said totake my time. When I was ready,
(07:47):
I could start immediately. I satthere in a strange sort of
trance. This was a milestone inmy development, and I needed
time to process. I don'tremember thinking at the time,
wow, this is such a coup forwomen in this industry, but I
think I knew deep down insidethat it was. It was a simple
(08:08):
engagement, but little did heknow that it had meant so much.
I had a decision to make but Iwasn't going to rush. First, I
was going to take a much neededweekend off. And for this I had
been invited to join ouravionics engineers, along with a
couple of maintenance engineersto go on a boat trip. The
company owned a small motorboat, which was managed and
(08:31):
maintained by the engineers andwas sitting at the Lagos Motor
Boat Club in the heart of Lagos.
I knew this place well. As achild. My father had also owned
a motorboat, and it had beenmoored here as well. We would
often take trips out onto thewater, although at the time, I
had not enjoyed the experience.
Founded in 1950, even then, itwas a prestigious club, and
(08:54):
still is today. Launching intolagos lagoon, our route would
take us under the Ahmadu Belloroad bridge, an area of the
choppiest water I had everexperienced. It was here that I
would often lose my stomachcontents, and clutch at my life
jacket. I could fly a planethrough the most ferocious
storms, but my sea legs wereabsent, possibly because I
(09:17):
didn't have any. Out past theLagos Yacht Club, it would be
calmer, but busier as wenavigated towards Apapa on the
way to badagry creeks. Sometimeswe would stop off at a popular
beach area called Tarkwa Bay,where we would moor in the
shallows, whilst Beach Boys, notthe actual Beach Boys, but hired
(09:38):
youngsters who acted as porters,would come out to retrieve your
cool box full of beer, coke, andan assortment of other picnic
favorites. I hated this bit,simply because as a poor
swimmer, I had to navigate ashort stretch where my feet
didn't touch the sand and Ialways managed to inhale a vast
quantity of salt water. YuckAt other times, we would head
(09:59):
out to our newly procured beachhut, which was situated further
into the creek, I think it wascalled Ibeshe. These days,
there are many resorts in thatThank you for listening. As
always, your reviews andarea, but in our day, there were
very, very few and they werevery underdeveloped. You would
hire someone to make sure yourbeach hut or canopy or s
ructure was cleaned and saffed when you got there. And o
(10:21):
the plus side, it was a calm ad serene location with few h
wkers to bother your tanquility. I remember spending m
ny hours there relaxing in a pace which could have been a
ywhere, with good company andood beer. Happy Days. On our
ay back to Lagos, we often hado pass through some very
(10:43):
hallow areas of the Badagry Ceek, which often necessitated a
andoning the boat to push it of a sandbank. I hated not k
owing what was beneath my feet wen I jumped into the murky w
ter. And once we were off the sndbank, you had to be pretty
uick jumping back into theoat. That wasn't my strong
oint. I remembered instancesrom my primary school days when
(11:04):
was trying to catch jellyfishy the Lagos lagoon waters,
hich my school looked out on,and being carefree and blase a
out it and until I was told aout the sting a jelly fish c
uld deliver. My colleagues dcided at that moment to remind m
that these waters harbored Prana fish, and it was best not t
take your time getting back oto the boat after a sandbank i
(11:27):
cident. I didn't believe them, te creeks look too tranquil for
hat. But they did tell me abouthe myriads of Parana fish that
urrounded the offshore drillingigs and that they sometimes
howed up in the local lagoonsust waiting for an unsuspecting
and or foot being trailed inhe water, as you approach the
bridge entry back to the BoatClub. Unfortunately, they
(11:49):
decided to impart thatinformation, whilst I was
inadvertently trailing my handin the water at that very point.
With my beer goggles on. Youwill not have, and will never se
a person remove their limbs frothe water so fast, that the ve
y momentum of this action propes them across the small boat a
(12:14):
d out over the other side, befoe my colleagues could grab a ho
d of me. I went from inibiated to sober in about five s
conds flat as I flew out of te boat and into the Pirana i
fested water. I flailed about srieking and swallowing great g
lps as my colleagues tried to sop laughing long enough to e
fect my rescue. Having been rerieved, I sat wrapped in a to
(12:38):
el frantically counting my figers and toes looking like a dr
wned rat. Lucky said one, fishoulda gotcha. I remember
hinking from the safety of te dock, that if I ever had to pe
form an emergency landing, Iould do everything in my power
o glide onto the beach becauseknowing my luck, I would be
(13:00):
he only pilot in history to beonsumed by a Pirana fish.
What an undignified end that wuld have been, and it wasn't a f
rst I was in a rush to lay claimto.
comments are very muchappreciated. Thank you to Lucy
(13:23):
Ashby for the editing of thisepisode. If you want to ask a
question or make a commentplease do so on our social media
sites. We're on Instagram,Facebook and Twitter, or send us
an email. Our email address istheskyis pinkpilot@gmail.com or
visit our website.
www.skyispink.co.uk.
(13:47):
We have reached our 20thepisode. And as we end season
one, I am looking forward tomore of my adventures in season
two. To begin season two, in thenext episode, I am pulled in
many directions by job offerindecision, I experience more
sexist abuse as I become a moresenior crew member, and I
(14:10):
welcome more women pilots intoour slow growing fold.
Thank you and goodbye.
Hello, and welcome to the next episode of if women
were meant to fly, the sky wouldbe pink to the rescue. I'm Enid
Otun. In this episode, aviationaccidents are on the increase,
and I lose some very goodfriends. I am offered another
job and a contract is hard torefuse. And I experienced my
(00:23):
first Parana fishing counter ona company boat trip, which puts
me off fish for life.
(00:59):
Before I start this 20thepisode, yes 20 episodes, which
marks the end of season one. Iwant to say how grateful I am to
all our listeners and followersfor doing just that. Listening
and following my life story. Ithas been a pleasure to share the
highs and lows, the rawness,honesty, sadness and elation
(01:23):
with all of you. Season Two willhopefully share more of the
same. My aspirations for thispodcast were not only to tell my
life story, but to highlight themany things that accompanied me
as my journey progressed. Thehomophobia, misogyny, prejudice
and trauma, which all form partof my story from childhood to
(01:47):
adulthood. I was hopeful that Icould reach out to people who
may have experienced any of thesame things I did, who may have
previously struggled or who arestruggling now with some hope
and strength, and support. If Ihave been able to reach even
just one person with a word, athought, an experience, then my
(02:10):
job would be done. I have usedthe medium of what I know best,
aviation to share my story, butthat is just the vehicle. So as
I continue on this journey, I amexcited to share more of my life
with you all. With the growth ofaviation in Nigeria, we were
(02:31):
introducing more and moreaircraft and more and more
players in the field of companyownership. More wet lease
aircraft were arriving, manyfrom Eastern Europe where the
aircraft and the crew wereleased as a package.
Sometimes it seemed that properprecautions were not adhered to
with catastrophic consequences.
On November 28 1983, a NigeriaAirways Fokker F28 fellowship
(02:57):
jet crashed on final approach toEnugu airport, which is in the
east of Nigeria, where thevisibility was below the minimum
descent altitude, due to thickfog. The crew elected to
continue in spite of this, andthe aircraft crashed, killing 53
people, including two crew. OnJanuary 10 1987, a DC 10
(03:22):
belonging to Nigeria Airways wascarrying out a training flight
at Ilorin, which is 130 nauticalmiles north of Lagos. The crews
were carrying out touch and go'swhere the aircraft lands and
then immediately takes off againfor another circuit essentially
to practice landings. With theaircraft high on the approach,
(03:46):
and a situation rapidlydeveloping where a decision was
to be made regarding abandoningthe landing to try again,
coupled with apparent confusionon the flight deck with regard
to procedure and decisionmaking, the visibility too close
to the minimums, the aircraftmade a heavy landing and overan
the runway, which resulted in afire which was not adequately
(04:08):
contained by the airport FireService. All nine crew members,
including the instructor, andthe trainees, survived.
Training procedures, operatingprocedures, airport facilities
and regulation all needed toimprove as aviation grew, and
this was not happening fastenough. As experienced grew, it
(04:31):
was tempting to think that youcould push the boundaries of
both your knowledge and theaircraft in order to achieve a
successful outcome. However,many times this proved not to be
the case. Airmanship andadherence to the rules, as well
as a healthy respect for mothernature who could provide
(04:51):
ferocious weather, needed to beconstantly followed.
Every time an accident happened,my heart would skip a beat. The
(05:14):
aviation community was still arelatively small one in those
days, and it was likely that youknew the crew. With Search and
Rescue services very poor at thetime, it was also likely that
you may be involved in some wayin trying to provide assistance.
Unbeknownst to me, I would inthe years to come experience
more and more of this type ofloss. With the private sector
(05:38):
becoming busier, the resultantrequirement for more flights,
grew. I was at work more andhome less. I also spent a lot of
time in restaurants and cafes.
Often I could be found in theAero Contractors restaurant
further up the ramp from us. Itserved good food, and was a
place to meet colleagues fromdifferent companies. The crews
from different operations wouldoften come together to meet and
(06:01):
impart urgent and relevantinformation from their flights
around the country. The state ofnavigation aids, fuel
availability as well as airportand runway conditions as well as
helpful company frequencies werejust some of the information
that was freely distributed foronward transmission to crews,
who flew the length and breadthof the country. This was often
(06:22):
the surest and simplest way ofadding relevant information to
charts and procedures, before itwas made official by the
relevant authorities. On onesuch occasion, one of the Aero
Contractors training captainswas present and introduced
himself to me. We got talkingabout our respective schedules,
and before long he inquiredabout what it was like working
(06:45):
at Bristows with the Shellrequirements for experience
being so high. I repliedhonestly, that as I was close to
this goal now, it would remainto be seen how they handled the
promotion of copilots, who hadrisen through the ranks. Nothing
was a given, but I was hopefulthat they would see the worth of
the crews they had helped todevelop. I had just taken a
(07:05):
large bite out of my ham andcheese toastie, when he said,
come work for us. You'll be acaptain very quickly and
possibly a training Captainafter that. I've heard only good
things about you and I canguarantee you a command. I
spluttered and proceeded to turnbright red as I weighed up an
offer that I had not expected,with the possibility of choking
(07:27):
to death on my toasty, beforeI'd given him an answer. What
just happened? He could tell Iwas shocked and asked why. Did I
not realize that I was soughtafter? I replied that I didn't
have the faintest idea that thecommunity felt that way. He left
me to think on it and said totake my time. When I was ready,
(07:47):
I could start immediately. I satthere in a strange sort of
trance. This was a milestone inmy development, and I needed
time to process. I don'tremember thinking at the time,
wow, this is such a coup forwomen in this industry, but I
think I knew deep down insidethat it was. It was a simple
(08:08):
engagement, but little did heknow that it had meant so much.
I had a decision to make but Iwasn't going to rush. First, I
was going to take a much neededweekend off. And for this I had
been invited to join ouravionics engineers, along with a
couple of maintenance engineersto go on a boat trip. The
company owned a small motorboat, which was managed and
(08:31):
maintained by the engineers andwas sitting at the Lagos Motor
Boat Club in the heart of Lagos.
I knew this place well. As achild. My father had also owned
a motorboat, and it had beenmoored here as well. We would
often take trips out onto thewater, although at the time, I
had not enjoyed the experience.
Founded in 1950, even then, itwas a prestigious club, and
(08:54):
still is today. Launching intolagos lagoon, our route would
take us under the Ahmadu Belloroad bridge, an area of the
choppiest water I had everexperienced. It was here that I
would often lose my stomachcontents, and clutch at my life
jacket. I could fly a planethrough the most ferocious
storms, but my sea legs wereabsent, possibly because I
(09:17):
didn't have any. Out past theLagos Yacht Club, it would be
calmer, but busier as wenavigated towards Apapa on the
way to badagry creeks. Sometimeswe would stop off at a popular
beach area called Tarkwa Bay,where we would moor in the
shallows, whilst Beach Boys, notthe actual Beach Boys, but hired
(09:38):
youngsters who acted as porters,would come out to retrieve your
cool box full of beer, coke, andan assortment of other picnic
favorites. I hated this bit,simply because as a poor
swimmer, I had to navigate ashort stretch where my feet
didn't touch the sand and Ialways managed to inhale a vast
quantity of salt water. YuckAt other times, we would head
(09:59):
out to our newly procured beachhut, which was situated further
into the creek, I think it wascalled Ibeshe. These days,
there are many resorts in thatThank you for listening. As
always, your reviews andarea, but in our day, there were
very, very few and they werevery underdeveloped. You would
hire someone to make sure yourbeach hut or canopy or s
ructure was cleaned and saffed when you got there. And o
(10:21):
the plus side, it was a calm ad serene location with few h
wkers to bother your tanquility. I remember spending m
ny hours there relaxing in a pace which could have been a
ywhere, with good company andood beer. Happy Days. On our
ay back to Lagos, we often hado pass through some very
(10:43):
hallow areas of the Badagry Ceek, which often necessitated a
andoning the boat to push it of a sandbank. I hated not k
owing what was beneath my feet wen I jumped into the murky w
ter. And once we were off the sndbank, you had to be pretty
uick jumping back into theoat. That wasn't my strong
oint. I remembered instancesrom my primary school days when
(11:04):
was trying to catch jellyfishy the Lagos lagoon waters,
hich my school looked out on,and being carefree and blase a
out it and until I was told aout the sting a jelly fish c
uld deliver. My colleagues dcided at that moment to remind m
that these waters harbored Prana fish, and it was best not t
take your time getting back oto the boat after a sandbank i
(11:27):
cident. I didn't believe them, te creeks look too tranquil for
hat. But they did tell me abouthe myriads of Parana fish that
urrounded the offshore drillingigs and that they sometimes
howed up in the local lagoonsust waiting for an unsuspecting
and or foot being trailed inhe water, as you approach the
bridge entry back to the BoatClub. Unfortunately, they
(11:49):
decided to impart thatinformation, whilst I was
inadvertently trailing my handin the water at that very point.
With my beer goggles on. Youwill not have, and will never se
a person remove their limbs frothe water so fast, that the ve
y momentum of this action propes them across the small boat a
(12:14):
d out over the other side, befoe my colleagues could grab a ho
d of me. I went from inibiated to sober in about five s
conds flat as I flew out of te boat and into the Pirana i
fested water. I flailed about srieking and swallowing great g
lps as my colleagues tried to sop laughing long enough to e
fect my rescue. Having been rerieved, I sat wrapped in a to
(12:38):
el frantically counting my figers and toes looking like a dr
wned rat. Lucky said one, fishoulda gotcha. I remember
hinking from the safety of te dock, that if I ever had to pe
form an emergency landing, Iould do everything in my power
o glide onto the beach becauseknowing my luck, I would be
(13:00):
he only pilot in history to beonsumed by a Pirana fish.
What an undignified end that wuld have been, and it wasn't a f
rst I was in a rush to lay claimto.
comments are very muchappreciated. Thank you to Lucy
(13:23):
Ashby for the editing of thisepisode. If you want to ask a
question or make a commentplease do so on our social media
sites. We're on Instagram,Facebook and Twitter, or send us
an email. Our email address istheskyis pinkpilot@gmail.com or
visit our website.
www.skyispink.co.uk.
(13:47):
We have reached our 20thepisode. And as we end season
one, I am looking forward tomore of my adventures in season
two. To begin season two, in thenext episode, I am pulled in
many directions by job offerindecision, I experience more
sexist abuse as I become a moresenior crew member, and I
(14:10):
welcome more women pilots intoour slow growing fold.
Thank you and goodbye.
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