Assault Strip

The next morning we got up at a reasonable hour as the assault strip is day visual only. It was raining, which could have been bad  if the ceiling dropped near the strip as we would be unable to descend and fly the approach. The field is located in an area where there are several dirt strips used by all kinds of folks, good and bad, and the traffic wouldn't be on radar. So we have to have the visibility and be able to maintain eye contact with the ground at all times.

As I mentioned we had absolutely nothing to do other than to jump in the plane and take off. We did just that. After a short 45 minute flight we were buzzing the field in the brilliant sunlight (no weather to speak of near the coast) and banking to make our approach. 140 miles an hour and 700 feet off the deck in a 60 degree bank pulling a few g's!!!! Exhilarating. The forward air controller cleared us to land at our own risk and we did. We taxiied back on the strip, made our familiar turn into their little ramp and backed up for an ERO. It was a truly awesome time! 19 minutes on the ground from the time the wheels hit the touchdown zone until we taxiied back onto the runway and lifted off. We do not mess around!!!!

On our way to Mombassa we began to encounter the weather we had seen that morning in Nairobi. Mombassa sits right on the Kenyan coast and it was raining so hard we couldn't see the outboard engines! That would almost be like flying in a hurricane. We popped in and out of the clouds and couldn't see the ground.

We were shooting the ILS (instrument landing system), which is a radio signal that gives us centerline and vertical information. When the crosshairs are lined up your on centerline and at the right vertical descent to touchdown nicely on the runway. We set the radar altimeter to 200 feet. If we descend to the runway and hear the GCAS (ground collision avoidance system) scream, "minimums" we execute a missed approach, or go-around.

On final approach with checklists done, I earned my money and the respect of my crew. I called my first go-around of my Herk career. We shot out of the clouds above minimums, but it was raining so hard you couldn't tell for sure it was a runway in front of you. As it was we were well right of the runway and high. The pilot overcorrected putting us well to the left over the grassy strip separating the runway from the taxiway. At that point he aimed for the runway and had us in a bank with a low nose angle and high approach speed, well down the runway that we really couldn't see other than to know it by it's definite shape and size. There could have been a vehicle on the runway or another aircraft and we wouldn't have seen it. At that moment I knew we were completely shit out of luck and that we were about to become a statistic so I shouted over intercom, "GO AROUND!" Initially the pilot was still locked into the approach and didn't push up the throttles. I yelled, "GO AROUND NOW!!!" and he pushed the throttles forward. At that moment I had been prepared to put my hands behind the throttles and push them up because I wasn't about to make my wife a widow.

We had plenty of gas. The entire go around and re-establishment of the approach burned 700 lbs of gas. The only nagging thought I had in the quiet of the aftermath was what if this weather got even worse and we couldn't see the runway at all? Then we'd have major issues. As luck would have it, we popped out of the clouds and the rain dissapated enough for a clearer look at the runway. The approach was nice and stable this time and we landed uneventfully.

I began flying in 1993. Since that time I have heard many haunting cockpit voice recordings of crews that paid the ultimate price. Often no one was assertive enough to break the chain of events that led to the accident. I made up my mind not to be that guy that everyone talks about in hushed tones as the guy who should have spoken up. I have the best seat in the house and I'm not invested in the approach. Pilots always try to make it happen. As a pilot myself, I have done equally dumb things trying to salvage an approach.

We taxiied to the military ramp and picked up some Navy personnel who obviously weren't ready and didn't give a shit. I could have drop kicked the lot of them for their shitty attitudes. Our loadmasters had to rebuild their cargo pallet because these morons had it all jacked up. We'd been Djibouti'd, Kansas Guarded, Nairobi'd and now we got Navy'd. The nice thing was we got an escort into the terminal where I got myself and my sweet wife Tusker Beer shirts!!! Ah the little things in life.

Gassed and ready to go I went to the bathroom on the airplane and was making my way forward in the cargo compartment when a funny thing happened. Well, not really, but it is now. I was making my way around this pallet and was beside the left troop door when I inexplicably went out of it. I grabbed for the door frame and thank God grabbed the door track and broke my fall. I had one leg touching the ground, barely, and the other stuck in the plane. I wrenched my left shoulder trying to prevent my falling completely out and onto my head. I smashed my right thumbnail and bruised my sizable ego, but other than screaming like a sissy I was physically intact!!! Shawn turned around when he heard my cry and said, "what the fuck are you doing back there?" Thanks for the help Shawn.

All in all we made it happen. We ended up hitting the assault strip only three days late whereas had we stayed in Nairobi to fix the brake we would probably have gone back home and those guys would have had to wait for their perishable food items and bullets until August 5th. We moved the mission successfully and completed all of our taskings and for that I am proud and thankful.

Next stop Djibouti for a short rest then back to our deployed location:)