One of the early lectures at ITW (Initial Training Wing) was about the most common error

that beginner pilots make: a miscalculation by 180 degrees. They steer off due East when

they should be flying due West. That often lands them deep in the Kalahari desert. Other

planes then have to be deployed to search the desert and bring them back. Sometimes they’re

not brought back until days later – half starved and with sunstroke.

On my first or second flight the RAF instructor turned away from the trainee pilot and spoke

to the kid behind them (me!) “You call directions!”

I was immensely flattered, He was taking this schoolboy observer seriously.

I did my calculations and called instructions. He raised his thumb. I was getting it right.

A while later we landed at Gweru. (Whites then used to spell it Gwelo)  Our instructor left to report

at the control tower. The young pilot now turned to me.  He was probably no more than

a year or two older than I.

“Kid, don’t imagine that I followed your instructions. Visibility was good. I just followed the

railway line.”

I cursed under my breath. “Mean bastard! ”  I had been so proud of my navigational skills.

“I hope that on his next flight he gets lost in the Kalahari and has to wait days for rescue,,,

would serve him right!”

Explanation:

“I did not train as a pilot but (briefly) was a schoolboy air cadet at Bulawayo. I was allowed to accompany “real” trainee pilots. Alas, I was kicked out after a short while because someone discovered I was classified as an enemy alien. A great disappointment”. Peter Fraenkel.

Next