Fast Fingers cause Disasters

Jim Davis has a passion for instructing. He has been training civil and military pilots, in the air and on the ground for 50 years. His other passion is writing, which he studied at Curtin University in Perth. You can see, and buy, his two pilot text books PPL and Flight Tests at www.jimdavis.com.au

Bertus van Ryswyk. That name just popped into my head from nowhere. Who the hell is Bertus van Ryswyk?

Then I had an image of him in a SAAF flying overall. And then it all clicked into sharp focus, the way emotional issues often do.

The only clear memory I have of him is that of him rushing, with lunatic speed and energy, around an aeroplane – it was like one of those 1920 black and white films where everyone is an Energiser Bunny on steroids.

Picture the scene. The place is a hot and dusty, secret military location somewhere in southern Africa, actually Verwoerd Dam (now Gariep Dam). We are a Commando Squadron on a training camp. Bertus has been given a mission number and a take-off time, and now his Cherokee has a flat battery.

Can you guess why it was flat? That’s right – he left the master switch on overnight. It happens to people who hurry around aircraft. They drive me potty with their belief that onlookers are impressed with the speed that your hands flash around the cockpit.

Worse still, I was soon to discover that he forgot to put the park-brake on before his mad prop swinging.

Unfortunately, I am responsible for Bertus. Let me tell