Miracles do happen

On Wednesday afternoon, at approximately 11.30 GMT (14.30 local), yours truly experienced a miracle. It was the third in 7 days, although strictly speaking, the three miracles are one. Allow me to explain:

6 Breaks

10 weeks ago, on 9th December, I broke my wrist in 6 places when I experienced what we pilots call 'severe ground effect'. Fortunately this did not take place in an aircraft, but just after parting company with my motorcycle.

After an uncomfortable night in Nairobi, Katie drove me to the hospital at Kijabe, where we had been put in touch with an orthopaedic surgeon who had been highly recommended to us.

Bionic Wrist

That afternoon, the hero Dr. Mike Mara put my wrist back together in a 3hr op using meccano. One plate and 6 pins later, I was a complete human being again, albeit with much morphine in my system and a big cast on my arm.

Needless to say, no flying for me. Initial rumours were that I might never fly again. Fortunately these were scotched when the doc indicated that he was hopeful I would make a near complete recovery and that I might be flying again in around 6 months time.

Therefore imagine our joint surprise (pardon the pun) when I went for a post-operative check last week and discovered that I have 90% movement restored and well over 50% strength. At just over 2 months post op, this astounded both of us, and we jointly (sorry!) declared that the fast healing was God's grace (i.e. a miracle).

The second miracle occurred the following Friday, when my Aviation Doctor took a look at the x-rays and my wrist and after a bit of prodding concluded that I am once again fit to fly. He then cautioned me about trying to do so on a motorcycle.

And so on Wednesday afternoon this week, at around 2.30 local time, I took to the skies again with my new bionic wrist. And guess what? The flight went like a dream. Some steep turns (no loss or gain in altitude), a stall (positively recovered with little loss of height) and four landings, which were as good if not better than my usual standard (miracle no. 3, or perhaps nos. 3-6). So having a bionic limb really does improve performance.

During my two months of 'desk-flying' I have nevertheless been busy, writing new Security and Evacuation contingency plans for MAF Kenya in anticipation of the elections, which take place here on Monday.

You may recall that back in 2007/8, the Kenyan presidential elections resulted in widespread violence, with over 1000 killed and many thousands displaced. Many are saying that this terrible event must not be repeated, and of course we hope and pray for that. However many of the underlying issues which caused the violence 5 years ago remain, and whilst we hope for the best, we plan for the worst.

If there is trouble, the MAF families will mostly stay at home, with the two weeks worth of provisions that we have stockpiled in our homes. If the situation deteriorates further, we have planned to fly ourselves south down to Tanzania. What a luxury to be able to execute an airborne evacuation on yourself.

Next week there is no flying on Monday or Tuesday due to the elections. I am rostered to fly West on Wednesday (Migori), East on Thursday (Dadaab), and North on Friday (Marsabit). Let's hope and pray that I don't have to complete the compass by flying south any time soon.

 Miracles do happen.