It was the 13th March 2013 – the worst day of my life and the best day of my life all wrapped in one. The worst because our plane came down. The best because life as I knew it, changed for good and every day thereafter was extra!!
Dusk was falling, we had taken off from the Pilansberg airport in a small 4 seater Piper aircraft. We were cleared to leave about an hour late at 5pm due to storms in Johannesburg as it wouldn’t be safe for us to fly through the massive storm. Little did we know that within the following hour, the storms would be the least of our problems.
It was just myself and the pilot – my good friend Ricky – who were flying back from Sun City after playing a round of golf at the Lost City. As we headed over Hartbeespoort Dam, it was getting dark outside, and I heard a massive popping sound on the outside of the plane. We both had our earphones on so we could communicate. I said “Ricks – what the f*ck was that?”. He responded saying “I’m not sure, but I dont think it’s good”. There was concern in his voice, but never any panic. He was well trained, but I could see that what was about to come was a lot of uncertainty and we both had to move straight into a literal ‘fight-or-flight’ mode.
Within moments of the popping sound, the windscreen suddenly went from clear to pitch black. Oil began squirting from the engine all across the windscreen. Our vision ahead was totally marred. The plane began descending at a more than rapid rate. Around us was just water and beyond that were farm lands and power lines….ie – nowhere to land!!
I will never forget these words out of Rick’s mouth – I still have these memories tattooed in my mind to this day. There are two radio’s on the plane. Ricky barked orders at me to pull out the radio frequency chart from the back seat and look for the frequency of the closest airport. He looked at the GPS and saw that Lanseria airport was only about 5 minutes away. I got the frequency from the chart, re-tuned the second radio to Lanseria and then, whilst still losing altitude, Ricky bellowed “MAY DAY MAY DAY – WE HAVE BLOWN THE ENGINE. PLEASE ADVISE?”. Lanseria, within moments, responded from the control tower asking if we can “clear the fence” which is a term for asking if we can make it to the airport in time without crashing. Ricky responded “affirmative”. Out of my window on my side of the plane, I saw blue and red lights in the distance. Within moments of the distress call, Lanseria airport had set their emergency vehicles (one Ambulance and two Fire Trucks) out to the runway to help us in case of a disastrous landing. Lanseria quickly declared an emergency and opened the airfield to us and informed an incoming Airbus coming in to land to divert and move around – we saw it in the distance lift up again and clear out of our way to give this tiny plane their runway to land on.
Thankfully, due to now full darkness, and not being able to see a thing via the front windscreen, I looked out my window and was guiding Ricky toward the blue and red lights whilst he used the runway lights to direct the plane toward what we hoped would be a life-saving landing. Rick had reduced the throttle of the plane and was more like gliding the bird down whilst we continued to lose altitude every second.
During this full process, not once did we think of death but more about just getting us down safely (which was pretty much out of my hands, but panic would certainly not have helped though).
As we approached Lanseria, we just cleared the outer fence of Lanseria airspace. We radioed in to say “Lanseria, we have cleared the fence”. Those runway lights were a godsend at this point to see where we were from the side windows. We hit the ground hard. One doesn’t realise how big those lights are in a Boeing or Airbus, but in a small plane, they are massive. We missed those lights on landing, but once on the ground, couldn’t see where they were, so whacked one or two of them whilst taxiing back to the hangar.
We didn’t care – we were alive!!
We were in constant radio contact with the Lanseria airtower. The person guiding us down was with us all the way. He needs a hero’s medal too. He guided the plane to the hangar, and as we got it out of the way of danger, the engine seized completely. The engineers who later did the assessment on the plane said that the piston shot through the engine block causing ‘catastrophic engine failure’. Ordinarily, he said, that we probably should have had only around two and a half minutes of functioning left on the engine. I think because it blew upwards through the engine block and not downwards, the oil didn’t escape all at once, and with Ricky reducing the throttle enough to glide, it allowed the engine to keep sputtering for 5 minutes and to allow us to get to Lanseria. There was honestly nowhere else to land – it all looked either too treacherous or too many power lines to deal with. I also believe there may have been one or two angels flying on the wings that kept this bird up for the time needed.
As the aeroplane came to a halt, I opened the door, jumped down on the tarmac, and it was at that point that reality set in. The magnitude of what had just happened came flooding through my body. Not only that, but at that very moment, my mobile phone rang – it was my wife. I asked her why she was phoning as she knew I was meant to be flying. She said “I don’t know, but I just had a bad feeling and needed to call you”. When she said that, I said straight back to her with much emotion in my voice “you won’t believe what just happened”. She said “what?”. I told her the story. She asked if I was kidding, as I was always much of a prankster. I said “DOES IT SOUND LIKE I AM F*CKING KIDDING?” – I think she could hear the emotion in my voice, and decided not to question that further. I was pretty much a wreck by this stage. Tears streaming from my eyes. Just grateful to be standing there alive and unscathed.
Oddly enough, a day earlier, my wife had asked (more like begged) me not to fly and rather to drive. She said she had a bad feeling about me flying. I told her not to worry and that Ricky had so many hours of flying under his belt and was VERY experienced. She decided not to argue the point. To this day, I try my absolute best to listen to her, and especially when she tells me of her gut feelings or bad feelings.
Reversing back a few hours, to the golf course at the Lost City – when we arrived there for breakfast before the golf began, I was going to be playing in the competition against my good friend, Ian. I wanted to win so badly. We ordered breakfast and I asked the waiter for eggs, but NO bacon as I wanted good luck for the day. I was a bit of a naughty Jew and occasionally ate the pork and bacon, knowing that I wasn’t meant to. On this particular day, I prayed to the man upstairs saying that I would not eat bacon as I wanted good luck for the golf game. What happened? The waiter came to my table and gave me bacon on the plate with the eggs. I was true to my word and asked everyone else if they wanted my bacon, to which everyone said no thank-you. So I pushed it to the side and never ate it as I wanted to ensure that nothing came in the way of me and good-fortune. Well let me tell you something – we came to the 18th hole. I was winning by one point. I was confident I was going to win this match. I hit my drive out of bounds. I hit my next drive out of bounds again – I was out of the hole. All Ian needed to do was to get one point to halve the hole with me. Now the tides had turned. He hit his drive on this par 5 into the fairway bunker. He hit his second shot about 50 yards out of the bunker. A sweet 3rd shot onto the edge of the green. Now he needed to put the ball close enough to the hole so he could putt for par and halve the game. What does he go and do? He drains a 45 foot putt for birdie to beat me one shot for the day.
I scream out “Gd – WHY? WHY? WHY? – I didn’t eat the bacon…I asked you for good luck for the day? WHY?” I was very miserable about losing. I congratulated Ian, but was so annoyed that I didn’t have the luck promised.
Lo and behold – what I didnt realise, was that good luck was still to come and that is what saved me from certain death in the plane (one can believe it or not, but I certainly do believe there was a higher power with me on this day). Interestingly enough, since that very day, I have never eaten pork or bacon ever again. Call me superstitious, but when you ask for good luck and it saves your life…well, sometimes one needs to give back a little too!!
So now back at Lanseria airport, we were waiting for our ride to take us back to our cars at Rand Airport, our original destination. It was about an hour and a half drive. I was reduced to a quiet, subdued wreck of myself. All the thoughts were going through my head of what could have happened and what actually happened.
I eventually got home, to a very relieved (but angry) wife. She hugged me hard. Then started beating me on the chest screaming and shouting how I could have done this and what it could have meant for the family. My kids were 6, 5 and 3 at the time. I imagined them without a father. I imagined life without me around. It was a sobering, yet eye opening thought process. I truly was apologetic. My children were all asleep. I went into their rooms and gave them each a hug and a kiss and thanked good man upstairs for sparing me on this particular day.
So what did I learn from this experience and what did I change:
1) Every day became extra for me. Every day is a joy to live. Every day, I actually stop and really do take stock and smell the roses if there are roses around. Every day, I slow down and have a little gratitude.
2) I was never arrogant, but I became softer and kinder. No matter how good business was at the time – it became about how I can give back and make a difference in people’s lives and not any more about how much money I can make
3) I appreciate every second I have with my kids. I don’t miss their school or extra mural events. If a client needs to see me at that point in time when it’s a decision between work and an event for my kids – I choose the kids every single time. And strangely enough, every single client agrees with that and becomes flexible and changes the time of our meeting. They truly do appreciate my honesty and values and ethics.
4) I am more sincere and more conscious of my own time too.
5) I have less friends and more GOOD friends – I have canceled the negativity in my life.
6) I often ask myself – why did I live? What is my purpose? My business partner, Eric, died in a plane crash, but I lived – why?. My job was not yet done. My family is the reason for living.
7) I watched a you-tube video of Travis Mills, an inspirational quadruple amputee. He said these things, which based on my story, I resonate fully with: Don’t dwell on the past. You can’t change what happened yesterday. You can’t change the past. You can’t always control your situation, but you can always control your attitude.
I often wish I didn’t go through what I went through. I wish my wife didn’t go through cancer and chemo and radiation. I wish my business partner hadn’t tragically died in a plane crash. I always do believe though, that if you don’t go through life-changing events, you cannot set a path of change and meaning for yourself. I think about what my legacy one day will be. I try to change peoples lives every day and make a difference. On my gravestone one day, I hope the legacy I have left behind says that I will be sorely missed by my loved ones and not that I was an absolute tw*t.
Thank you to the world for giving me 10 years of extra. Every day for the past 10 years has been a gift that I cherish and am grateful for every single day. I am grateful for the amazing people I work with who inspire me every day. I am grateful for a beautiful wife and kids that I get to see every day of my life. I am grateful for my friends and extended family.
Finally – what I can say is: if you are not dead, there is still extra…and possibly even EXTRAordinary. Live each day as if it were your last, but dream as if you will live forever…
