South America
My very first flight into South America I was as giddy as a schoolboy! We came in on some dilapidated old DC-8 out of New Orleans, ensuring that we made the departure time as there were no landing lights on the ‘airfield’ in Honduras. It was explained to us that if we were delayed we couldn’t land, as well, we couldn’t see where to land.
The view over the jungle canopy was fantastic! We came screaming-in low, I’m not sure if that was normal or if the pilots just wanted to have fun. We flew on a TAN SAHSA flight, which in “American” parlance stood for “Stay At Home Stay Alive”. Interestingly enough, these pilots have some of the highest ratings on flight simulators I later learned!
Back-in-the-day, the stewardesses (yes, I’m being gender-specific here) used to go around and spray DDT-laden bug spray on these flights to make sure we weren’t carrying any new malaria-carrying mosquitoes et. al., into the country. As if.
The pilot came out of the swinging cockpit door, looking all of “John Wayne-esque” with a long white scarf around his neck, barking in Spanish. We were a few hundred metres over the treetops. I didn’t know if he was telling us were getting ready to crash or to welcome us to our destination!
