My First RTW : Leg 20

Sunday, 10:00 PM:

Was it 1976 that an Air France Airbus was hijacked and flown to Entebbe, Uganda (home of the President General, His Highness, Lord of the Land and Liked-To-Be-Called-Honorable Idi AminDada)? The Israelis mounted an incredible Special Forces raid to free 101 hostages and the Air France crew. Anyway, in homage to that operation, I depart Goma after dark in a C-130 Hercules, bound for Entebbe. I depart southbound this time, out over the lake but my approach to Entebbe will be northbound, over Lake Victoria, which means I may have a tailwind landing.

Entebbe is high too, over 7000 feet ASL. It is a clear night and just as the Israelis did, I use no navaids. But unlike in the raid, I do have those PAPI lights to guide me in. "You'll come in low over the lake and, hopefully still undetected, make one of your famous assault landings here!" the commander points to the end of the runway furthest from the terminal.

Day Nine, Middle-of-the-Night Sunday-Monday:

I try my best to keep my radio altimeter under 400 feet as I fly a northbound heading over the smooth waters of Lake Victoria. I have eyeballed a heading off of the southern coast of the lake and now, see nothing recognizable ahead. Speed is 200 knots and I am SO TEMPTED to check the GPS, but I'm good and don't do it. Finally I see the airport at about 11 o'clock and make the left turn to correct. Speed down, flaps and gear in, re-trim, re-trim, re-trim each time. Speed now about 110 knots and I drop to 200 feet AGL. Speed to 100, then 90, then "squeak", I'm down. I don't use any reverse thrust but ride the brakes a bit to stop.

There was a great book written by one of the Herc (they call it the "Hippo") pilots who tells about the mission and the hair-raising 90 minutes he sat naked on the tarmac amidst gunfire. A point of note is that according to this guy, after the mission, with a full load of hostages and medics and everything else you need for a Special Forces Operation, they were climbing out at about a 50° attitude. Amazing but, my departure is not nearly so dramatic. There is also a good, '70s-era movie with Charles Bronson called "Raid on Entebbe" which I highly recommend you rent and watch.