This time I would like to tell you a little bit about the introduction of the first F27 in the Libyan dessert as a replacement for the DC3's that we were operating for Oasis Oil Cy.

When the replacement was first mentioned, I told our chief pilot about the F27, proud as I was that I had worked on the first one's as a mechanic at Fokker in the period between military flying and my job flying in Libya. And as a real Dutchman, I told our pilots that in my opinion, there was no other airplane in existence that could replace the DC3 and do the same if not better in the dessert, then the F27.

In this tale, I was thinking back over the years, since I started working for Fokker in 1955 and how things changed in time.

In those days there were hard times for Fokker. There were some orders for the S14 and orders for overhaul of some Meteor fighters, but a lot of money was going into the development of the F27, of which I had the pleasure of seeing its maiden flight in my early days at Fokker. That flight was the beginning of the revival of Fokker fame, that even now still exists in World Aviation with the still flying F27, F28, Fokker 50, Fokker 60, Fokker 70, and the Fokker 100.

When I was still working with Fokker Flight Crew Training, I came across a "Yellow Alert" which reported a nose gear problem in flight with an F27. This reminded me of a similar F27 nose gear problem which happened to me.... What do you mean similar?

It happened to me four times in one week, with the same Kite!.

When our dispatcher spotted me, he came right over and said: "Boy, am I glad to see you! Do you have the latest scoop? What do you think? Are you ready to go?"

"Oh, so you haven't heard yet on the radio? Okay, let me fill you in. Early this afternoon, a Boeing 747 of Japan Airlines was hijacked and landed at Benghazi. And we want you to go there immediately".

This call came from a ground station, which was calling anyone in the neighbourhood of oil camp M3.

On this particular day, I was flying in the neighbourhood of camp 59 Alpha, when another captain called me on the radio and reported that he was making a go-around at 59 Echo and that he had a problem. The reason he reported to me was that we were both instructors, but I was also the Company Route Check Captain and therefore involved with everything out of the ordinary en route.

After reading a story about the Beaver in the V.V. Magazine for Historic Aircraft, 2/2003, I thought: "Why not write a story about my Beaver experience in the Dessert and tell you in the mean time where and when my name, Tom Beaver, by which I write my stories, came about."

I earned this name during my first ten years flying in Libya, when I was stationed in the dessert with my Beaver and did all my flying between the different Oil camps on a two week tour with a break in between tours, of only 5 days in Tripoli, with my family.

Reading an item in the media about a large aircraft getting into severe turbulence at high altitude, reminded me of some experience of my own in turbulence, of which I would like to tell you something, especially after an acquaintance once asked me how it was possible that such big planes so high could have turbulence since they always flew above the weather and that was the source of turbulence, or not?

There is a saying that goes like: "Through the eye of the needle". Which means: When you are in a very tight situation you barely squeeze through." I could change that into "Passing between the wheels of an F27", because there is very little room, especially between underside fuselage and underside wheels, like between bottom fuselage and the ground.

But I am still grateful for every centimetre there was, otherwise I would not be sitting here writing about a meeting between a camel and an F27.

There are moments in your life, which you'll never forget. The next story is about such a moment. It is not a technical F27 story, but it happened while flying the Friendship, owned by Oasis Oil Company, on one of our daily flights in the dessert, supplying the different Camps.

We were cruising along at 10.000 feet, halfway between Camp 59E and 59A, with some 10 minutes to go before starting down for our landing at 59A.

In one of my previous stories about a search near Ghat, we talked about other planes than the F27, among which the Twin Otter.

The Twin Otter has nothing to do with the F27, except that it looks like a small version at the outside, because it is also a high wing, tricycle, twin engine turboprop.

Some time ago I was watching a TV program in which the Dutch weatherman Reinier van den Berg stated that he wanted to go to the USA with some friends to study the behavior of a tornado.

This made me think of the many twisters that we encountered in the dessert. Most times you could already spot them from a distance because they sucked up the sand and you could see that move across the ground like a funnel. Such a twister is of course quite a bit different than a Tornado, whereby everything is sucked up in its path over the ground. I have once seen one in Georgia and it was unbelievable, it looked like a bulldozer had made a path right through the middle of a village, straight like a candle and everything on the side was untouched.

In the past in the Beavertales we talked about the problems with the landing gear. It was either blocked and would not go down when it was supposed to or it would go up when it was NOT supposed to.

Anyway we know that the landing gear is a very important part of the aircraft, not only on the ground, but also in the air, and about that last item I would like to tell you some more.

As we told you before, most of my Beavertales were written earlier for our magazine the Spider. So this is also an old story, but we still like to put it on the Site.

Most of the times when I started a new Beavertale, I had an association to an event or an idea about which I wanted to write. But for this one, it was a case of: "Please Tom, can you send us a tale this week for the next issue?"

In an earlier Beavertale I was telling about turbulence in the atmosphere and the effects on airplanes. Of course it is important that pilots are well aware of this.

Therefore, during the first part of a pilots training, he learns about meteorology, its influence on the atmosphere and its adverse influence on aircraft performance and flight conditions.

This is then in theory. The real works and a good portion of respect for the powers within the atmosphere are learned through experience during flight.

Here we are again. In one of my previous stories, may be you remember this one, it ended up with a RED head, out of embarrassment, of the Captain. Never say: "Not me!" Because in this story, I was the one who ended up with a blushing face.

I wrote this story before upon request off the FFA for their "On Board Magazine" during flights with their F27. Hoping that we will fly again in the future with the F3. I would like to put this short story on the Site just as an appreciation and thanks to all those volunteers that are working so hard to get the old F3 airborne again.

In one of my previous tales I told you about a day with very bad weather whereby a big freight aircraft during his landing at Tripoli had run off the end of the runway and got stuck in the mud. Because of this, we had, upon our arrival at Tripoli with the F27, to stay in the holding pattern and were jolted up and down between thunderstorms, until we were red and blue at our bottoms so to speak. When we finally were allowed to land and thought: "This is it for today and we can go home and relax," we found out we were wrong, because we were ordered to depart again on a search mission near Ghat, for a missing aircraft from the Sebha Flying Club, which apparently had gotten lost in a sandstorm in the neighborhood of Ghat.

In one of my earlier tales about flying in the dessert, I told about the special flights we used to make around the Christmas holidays to bring the families of the workers who were on duty, during the festivities in the dessert, together.

They set up great dinner parties and also all kinds of activities for the kids, such as exploration trips after fossils and geological rarities with the geologists and letting the boys try to drive a land rover in the sand dunes.

The time that this story plays, was still long before we had the F27, and all flying was done with the Beavers and the DC3s.

I don't know  if you read my previous story about a nosewheel problem, where it would not lock after selected down for the landing, but this one alo has to do with the nosewheel section of the aircraft.
Anyway, when I heard that we finally got hold of the "Hurray" F3, I was thinking back about the old days.

One of the many subjects you have to deal with in the flying business is meteorology or better known as "The Weather".
Everyone who flies once in a while or read about it - and who has not, nowadays - knows that planes are very dependent of and influenced by the elements.

This is one of the Beavertales of Tom Beaver we've had on stock.

In earlier Beavertales more than once did I tell already about sand storms and real extreme changes in the weather. Sometimes those storms were unfathomable. Once I have seen a sandstorm in the distance, coming towards me, when I still would be 10 miles from my destination, and the thing would look so threatening, that I would decide not to chance it and make a 180 degree turn in a hurry.

In one of my earlier tales I talked about the fact that accidents never happen because of a single mistake or cause, but are often the result of different factors in combination with each other. The accident with the PH-DDA appeared again to be a typical example of that.

There is a typical English expression that says: "When it rains, it pours!" with which they want to say as much that when it has been dry for quite awhile, and then when it starts to rain, it comes down in buckets. Such an expression can also be applied to other, not weather related circumstances; as for instance with aviation.

This time I want to tell a story related to the Beaver. I actually got that thought, as nowadays, with all the wars going on in the world, one often hears about land mines, where many times innocent people are the victims.
That brought my thought to an incident that happened along a short sand strip along a coastal route in Libya, close to the town of Sirte.

After thirty-six splendid stories from Tom Beaver this is the very last Beavertale. The series is finalised and will be concluded with a last greeting from Tom, only this time not with an "until the next Tale".