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Tale Of Three Horses
Relations between countries of differing cultures calls for a lot of understanding and diplomacy when it comes to dealing with each other’s sensibilities. In recent times Sweden has been keen to expand the sales prospects of its weaponry outside its traditional customer base, and so was highly keen to put on a good show when Pakistan asked the Swedes to give a presentation on the Gripen fighter. However the chances of the potent little fighter ever seeing Pakistani military service seem to have been dealt a telling blow, according to a report recently published in Jane’s Defence Weekly. Some time last year Pakistan’s army chief, General Abdul Waheed, visited Sweden and had the opportunity to inspect the Stockholm based, mounted Royal Guard. So impressed with the Guard was the General that he decided to make a contribution of three prize Pakistani thoroughbred horses — Tez, Sardar and Sher Dil – as a goodwill gift to his Swedish counterpart, General Ake Sagrén. General Sagrén accepted General Waheed’s generous gift despite being aware that Sweden’s strict health regulations prohibit the importation of animals from Asia. The Swedish general was advised to accept the horses to avoid offending the Pakistanis and thus potentially jeopardising future military sales. Unbeknownst to Tez, Sardar, Sher Dil and General Waheed, Sweden’s restrictive rules meant that the three horses were promptly destroyed on their arrival in Scandinavia, despite the nature of the gift and cultural sensibilities involved! Army chief or not, General Sagrén was not able to influence Sweden’s bureaucratic health officials, and the horses were doomed as soon as they left Pakistan, despite their prime condition. Understandably, Pakistani Foreign Ministry officials were said to have expressed surprise at the horses’ fate, saying that General Waheed would not have been offended if he knew that the horses’ very lives were at stake. General Sagrén personally visited Pakistan to apologise for the horses’ untimely fate and to try and explain the nature of his predicament. While the Pakistanis reportedly gave him a little understanding, one can’t help thinking that the chances of seeing Gripen’s in Pakistani colours are very, very small!
High And Dry
During the ’60s when I was a flight crew licensing clerk with the then DCA, I issued Certificates of Validation to visiting overseas pilots wishing to fly VH registered aircraft in Australia. The certificates were endorsed with those aircraft on which the pilot was proficient and were also on the Australian civil register. One day an American private pilot and his wife came into our Sydney office after arriving from the States that morning, eager to pick up a Certificate of Validation. After studying and passing the Air Legislation examination, I proceeded to check his logbook for compatible aircraft to be endorsed on his certificate. The usual ones were present — Super Cub, Tri-Pacer, Cherokee, Cessna 150, 172, 180, and 182. He insisted that the floatplane endorsement also be included on the certificate. He then asked for names and telephone numbers of operators so that he could hire a floatplane and start planning their flying holiday “down under”. I explained that there were only a small number of floatplanes in Australia and doubted if any were available for hire in the Sydney area. A puzzled look appeared on both their faces, surely a country as big as Australia with all those lakes would have numerous floatplane operators willing to hire out amphibian aircraft. What lakes were they talking about? Then the penny dropped, they were talking about the dry salt lakes in Central Australia. I then had the job of explaining as gently as possible, that the lakes they were referring to were salt lakes and, worse still they were usually very very dry. It appears that he was a keen floatplane pilot and had spent many hours touring the lake districts of the USA and Canada flying all sorts of amphibian aircraft. Looking for new areas to explore they came across a map of Australia showing, you guessed it, all the lakes of inland Australia. Assuming that all lakes were filled with water they saved up their spare cents and headed “down under” for a new adventure flying from east to west via our great lakes. (N White, Sydney Airport, 2020)
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