SEASONED air travellers who criss-crossed Africa a decade or more ago usually have no shortage of hair-raising tales. One mining executive tells how on take-off in an old Russian jet one of the engines burst into flames. An imperturbable crewman stepped out with an extinguisher, sprayed down the engine and then announced the plane would leave as planned, trying to block the mass exodus of passengers. Another traveller recalls the amusement in the eyes of fellow passengers when he boarded an ancient plane in west Africa. Soon after take-off, as clouds billowed into the cabin, they had a good laugh at the panic on his face until one explained that this always happened when the air-conditioning was turned on.
It is not just the tales that were hair-raising. Hard statistics alone might have grounded all but the most daredevil of travellers (except for the fact that shoddy roads continue to make driving in Africa even more dangerous than flying). In 2011, for instance, Africa accounted for almost a third of all deaths in air crashes around the world, even though it accounted for less than 3% of all air traffic.
The European Union (EU) has banned no...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/1o2tQUx
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