Treasures From The Pioneer Era, reported by Ernie Tanner:
In 1986 we bought a helicopter in Abu Dhabi in the United Emirates on the Gulf of Persia. Now I intended to fly the machine via Ethiopia to Kenya where it was urgently needed.
My flight plan from Abu Dhabi along the coast to Bahrain was accepted by air traffic control, but as I gave notice of departure to air traffic control in Abu Dhabi, the flight controller ordered me to use the flight route taken by the airliners although my aircraft was not equipped with instruments for flying blind. I was sent far out to sea where I had to change course at a point I couldn’t see, and which I could only have calculated with navigation assistance. However, I was alone in the cockpit with both hands busy at the controls and struggling with wind and poor visibility.
The swell was high and the weather deteriorating visibly from the west. My fear of this virtually impossible task was compounded by my annoyance at the impudence of this command which beggared all logic. I estimated the time to change course at the particular point at sea and turned towards the southwest, only vaguely able to estimate my course. After a long flight over the water, the Saudi air traffic control eventually piped up. Was I glad to hear this voice in my ear! Visibility was getting poorer and poorer. I radioed my position to the official. He responded very affably, found me on his radar and guided me with fantastic precision directly to Bahrain airport. Truly, God doesn’t let us down, not even when we’re all at sea.
