I just got back to the island yesterday and boy did I grandstand my return. That’s me in the white shirt after a rather nervous landing at the Andros Airport. I knew we were in trouble when we came in for a landing and a warning buzzer went off. The pilot pulled up and said he had a problem with the nose gear going down. We circled for quite awhile while he tried to crank the nose gear down. He kept pumping on the handle but nothing was happening. It was apparent we had a broken hydraulic line.
There was only two of us on the plane besides the pilot. He told us to go way in the back, buckle up and hang on as he had no choice but to attempt a soft landing. We touched down very softly but when the nose went down, there we went nose grinding down the runway. My only fear was fire.
My hat is off to the pilot as he handled that emergency situation as well as any pilot could. He feathered the engines just before we touched down so the props would be horizontal and not spinning which would most likely started a fire. We finally came to a stop with the nose stuck in the dirt. The other passenger, who I was told was a Bahamian preacher blew out that door and ran like the devil himself was after him.
So now after my grand entry back on the island, it’s time to go fishing.