Airtest-Pilatus Britten-Norman Islander

Pilatus Britten-Norman Islander

My first encounter with Pilatus Britten-Norman’s world famous Islander was in Zimbabwe. Nine of us, safari bound, piled out of a vintage Air Zim Viscount and staggered across Kariba’s blistering tarmac into a work weary, bleached orange example

. Hefting my bulging bag into the luggage compartment with the others, I was surprised to notice deicing boots on its tail, despite the blazing sun.

We boarded, the engines fired up and, apparently ignorant of the term ‘hot and high’, our miniature airliner lifted valiantly (if noisily) from the 520m (1700 foot) high runway into the thin, baking air to set course for the game lodge. En route, grateful of the excellent view through its big windows down to the browned, dry season bundu, I shall forever remember a glimpsed rhino, the only wild one I have ever seen.

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