Veteran pilots' mercy flight

A pilot with 18 000 flight hours, Captain Judicat Jonas, led a team of 11 crew members that brought the 200 000 Sinopharm vaccines donated by China. In total, there were four pilots, two cabin crews, two engineers, load control, dispatcher and charters officer.

Capt Jonas, a seasoned and highly-qualified pilot with a cumulative total of over 18 000 flight hours, of which 10 145 hours are on the Boeing 767-200ER aircraft, together with his team seemed to have had an easy task at face value given their years of experience. However, there should have been some weight on the team's shoulders given the critical nature of the cargo that they were to ferry from the People's Republic of China.

And Capt Jonas, who was the pilot-in-command, yesterday told The Herald that "this was a very important operation".

To its credit, the B767-200ER affectionately known as "Chimanimani" on call sign UM450, did not disappoint and made a feather-light landing at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport at 5.40am on Monday with the first consignment of the much-needed Covid-19 vaccine from Beijing.

Said Capt Jonas: "Knowing the urgency and critical need we have as a nation for this vaccine given the loss of many citizens due to the pandemic, this was a very important operation for the good and benefit of the people of Zimbabwe.

"The entire flight was very smooth with no challenges faced, quick turnaround times on the ground and the aircraft was in a perfect serviceable condition having recently completed a major maintenance check and great team work from the rest of the crew.

"Our key focus was to ensure we keep the cargo hold temperature within the required range for the preservation of the vaccine, right until its final destination Harare."

Air Zimbabwe spokesperson, Ms Firstme Vitori said the successful operations carried out by the national airline since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, including special cargo flight repatriations across continents and the recent delivery of the vaccine "is a moment of great pride as it speaks to Air Zimbabwe's resilience and capability to answer the call of national duty".

"Air Zimbabwe continues to implement the Strategic Turnaround Plan (STP) which shall see the return of the national livery to intercontinental destinations on the back of a robust domestic and regional network with the introduction of the ERJ145 (Z-WPQ) to the fleet in a few weeks and an additional ERJ145 expected before the end of the first half of 2021," said Ms Vitori.