IRIS GOES TO KHARTOUM

Laura McDermid continues her stories of Iris McCallum's flying exploits.

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"How was your grand adventure Cuddles?" asked Chief Pilot Ken Metcalf, an ex-Military Attaché with the British High Commission, and ex Squadron Leader with the RAF.

GAVE KEN AN EXHAUSTED, but happy smile. I must've looked a right mess, my bush-pig curls sticking up in every direction as though I'd stuck my finger in an electric socket, and my clothes dishevelled from an all-night vigil in the cockpit.

I'd just returned to the office at SafariAir at Wilson Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, after having spent 25 hours flying at night in a Cessna 340 over four days with my co-pilot Richard exhila Palmer-Wilson.

The East African Safari car rally's Team Lancia had approached SafariAir looking for a plane to hire to be their 'aerial antenna' from the 24th to the 27th of March 1989.

We would have to fly at around 20,000 ft, and I did not fancy sitting with an oxygen mask on my face for seven continuous hours. SafariAir did not own any pressurised aircraft, so it was up to me to pull strings with my contacts at architectural firm Sir Alexander Gibb, who owned the C340.

The motoring World Rally Championships (WRC), affectionately dubbed The Safari, originated in 1953 as the East African Coronation Safari to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. It is regarded as one of the toughest, most exhausting races over a distance of 5,000km.

Racing in such remote areas, that range from farm tracks to very rough roads up and down the Great Rift Valley, makes it very difficult guarantee communication, e ation enture especially for support vehicles (chase cars) that need to be able to provide immediate assistance to racing cars when necessary.

It was simple enough during the day, as the crew in the aircraft were able to view the event from the air. The biggest challenge was at night when the inky blackness made it impossible to see anything on the ground.