Kamakazi Kiwi

by Chucky

Cranley Leigh and I were working a narrow strip along the side of a dike. We were spraying DDT on cotton. The Sudan didn't grow a great grade of cotton but they employed contract crop dusters to protect what they did grow. DDT is illegal in some countries but not in the Sudan; at least not in the summer of 1981. We usually worked two planes to a strip. Our strip that day would only accomodate one aircraft at a time. It was narrow with the dike on one side of it and a field of tall cotton on the other side. There was a pull-in which required some fancy manuvering and was used to get out of the way of the departing aircraft. It was almost like a wide spot in the road, as it were, only it was more like a dead-end alley than a wide spot because once you taxiied in there the aircraft was closely surrounded on both sides by tall cotton. At the end of the alley the cotton was chopped down a bit. It was cut down to about four feet from the ground to give the aircraft room to turn around and position itself to taxii out to the strip and down to the loading dock after the other aircraft took off. It took a bit of manuvering. You couldn't simply brake one wheel and swing around. The tail had to be lifted above the chopped cotton stalks. To do that you had to taxii until you were facing the end of the alley and then brake one wheel , apply enough power and forward stick to fly the tail up in the air while booting full rudder. As soon as the aircraft was turned around it had to be taxiied forward enough for the tail to clear the cotton before being lowered back to the ground. It was tricky and took a bit of delicate coordination. Its just one more tool in the box that makes experienced crop dusters the best light aircraft handlers in the flying community. After a few tries I got used to it. What I am still not used to is the likes of Cranligh Leigh.

We were pretty much balls to the wall all day long out there. We got paid by the feddan (2 1/2 acres), 60p per if memory serves, and never wasted daylight waiting for dark. Cranliegh was from New Zealand. He once told me that some of their strips are literaly on the sides of mountains. Like literally a 45 degree slope.

"Ya land at just the right speed and power Mate to get your aircraft over the hump to the loading dock at the top. Those who haven't learned yet learn to turn around real fast. Those who don't learn to turn around real fast learn to fly backwards.
Those who don't learn to fly backwards don't have to learn anything anymore Mate."

We were turning and burning. As the day progressed we learned to coordinate our takeoffs and landings for peak efficiency. . One of us would land and be loading up and shortly after the other would land and taxxi into the turn-around-spot out in the cotton. After the loaded aircraft took off the other would taxxi down to the dock. There was little room for much else, but then this was the first time I had flown with Cranleigh Leigh.

Did I say that the wall of the dyke sloped upward from our narrow strip at a 45degree angle? Remember that.
It may have well been a stone wall as far as I was concerned.

On one final I noticed that the timing was such that Cranleigh was almost loaded and would be ready for takeoff during my rollout. I should have circled to adjust our timing, but I decided that it would be to my advantage to land early. It would be a gain of a few seconds for me at his expense.

"He'll have to wait for me to make it to the turn-around", I chuckled as I sticked it on to the rutted strip.
By the time I was in taxxi mode, instead of waiting for me to reach the turn-around, the Kiwi was at full power , him and his cloud of dust coming right at me.

"He'll never make it. There is no way I can get out of his way in time. Holy Crap!"
I throttled to idle and hit the brakes, desperately seeking an escape from this madman from NewZealand.

"Are you outta yer Kiwi mind?", I yelled."

By this time his speed wasn't enough for liftoff but too high to stop even if he wanted, which apparently he didn't. I reckoned that if I applied full power immediately I may have enough airspeed before we collided to lift the aircraft and plop it into the cotton. "Surely he wasn't going to do that to me for the sake of a few seconds... Would he?"

"Is he nuts? Is he playing chicken with me? I have no escape here."

If I just taxxied into the cotton my tail would be sticking out and we would collide for sure. At this point nothing was making much sense.
"Damn! I should have circled!" Tall cotton on one side and the dyke on the other. No where to go.

"What had I done to deserve this", I thought. "
Maybe he doesn't like Americans. Funny, he never let on before. This suicidal maniac is going to turn us both into a fireball."

I was an RCH from applying full power when he did something I never thought possible and haven't seen since.

He climbed the dyke! With inches of clearance to spare on his left wing tip and heavy with 100 gallons of chemical, he climbed the dyke and screamed past me from the top. "Whoa!"

I watched him lift off and turn out of sight in my rearview mirror.


Our Sudanese loader ran up to the aircraft as I swung around at the dock.
"Who is that Captain? Who is that Captain?", he exclaimed.

"Don't really know", I replied, "but next time I'm circling."

His eyes were like dinner plates as we watched Cranleigh dive into a distant field.

Cranleigh and I never spoke about this. He never mentioned it and I certainly never gave him occasion to repeat it. He acted like it was routine, but I wonder if he ever noticed my occasionally staring at him.