A HAIRY MOMENT IN A SINGLE PIONEER

By Alan HumphreyAirframe

In 1962 I was stationed at RAF Seletar in Singapore as a Cpl airframe fitter on No. 209 Sqn. We operated Scottish Aviation Single and Twin Pioneers in a ground support role.

This particular morning I was told to get my tool kit and get on the next Pioneer going up country, as a Single Pioneer was grounded at Kuala Lumpur (KL) with a hydraulic leak. On arrival at KL, I duly changed the suspect pipe and, having pressure tested it, cleared the aircraft to fly back to Singapore with me as a passenger.

We took off okay and headed for Singapore, and then we encountered a nasty electrical storm which totally affected our compass. So we were lost! After a few minutes heading in what the pilot thought was the right direction, we saw a nice wide road below us. He decided to descend to see if there were any road signs to help us find our way home. He touched down on this road right behind a big American car driven by a wealthy Malay guy. How the guy kept the car on the road I will never know; it must be quite disturbing to see an aircraft in your rear view mirror close behind you. Anyway the pilot saw a sign, quickly lifted off, and headed ln the right direction (hopefully). The next thing we saw was the golden dome of the Sultan of Johore's Palace. Even then the storm tried to hide the sight but we were virtually home. We landed at Seletar okay so all was well.