As the stress resilience training was in full swing, Keith returned to Pretoria for the fifth week of preparations.
After the inspection was completed, Harobi paid the balance, and the two helicopters were officially transferred, becoming assets of an aviation services company registered in the Cayman Islands. This allowed the flight operations to proceed without any hindrance, and William Crawford reopened the previously closed hangar for Keith’s use.
At 8:30 a.m., Du Preez drove Keith to the “Precision Aviation Services” hangar in a rented Mitsubishi Pajero V73 SUV.
After taking delivery of the two Mi-17 helicopters, Keith selected two pilots and six mechanics from the candidate list and instructed Du Preez to notify them to report to the hangar that morning.
Meeting Keith, their “boss,” for the second time, the men were still somewhat tense but less so than during their first encounter. Keith greeted them with a smile and then pulled the two pilots aside, while Du Preez unloaded two half-person-height wooden crates from the car and loaded them onto the helicopter. The mechanics were instructed to refuel the helicopter.
One of the pilots for this flight was the red-haired man whom Du Preez had previously “ordered” inside. His name was Martini Sien, a former South African military pilot with experience flying the “Alouette III” and over 500 hours of flight time on the “K-Car Gunship.” After the disbandment of “32 Battalion,” he joined the South African Police Air Wing and piloted SA330 “Puma” medium utility helicopters.
The other pilot, Daniel Morley, was a broad-shouldered, imposing white man whose colleagues had nicknamed “Bear.” He had served in the South African Navy, where he flew Westland “Wasp” light helicopters. After joining “Precision Aviation Services,” he became Sien’s co-pilot, and the two had worked seamlessly together.
“This is where we’re headed today,” Keith said, handing over a slip of paper with GPS coordinates.
Sien glanced at the paper and said, “Not too far from here.”
Keith nodded and added, “I plan to drop some items from the air and need to test the accuracy at different altitudes.”Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
“While I’m curious about what you’re planning to drop,” Sien handed the paper to Morley and continued, “I’m guessing you’re not going to tell me?”
“The tests will use sandbags,” Keith replied. “I assure you, whatever we drop later won’t land inside South African borders.”
“Good, that’s reassuring,” Sien muttered, then began discussing the flight plan with Morley.
About an hour later, the modified Mi-17 took off from Wonderboom Airport, carrying Keith and Du Preez toward the outskirts of the city.
A small wireless CCTV camera had been attached to the helicopter’s underside, along with a 14-inch LCD monitor and signal receiver in the cockpit. Due to time constraints, the exact placement of the camera hadn’t been finalized, so it was temporarily secured with tape under the cabin door.
They flew north for about 30 minutes before landing on a remote, barren expanse near Bonakalalo National Park.
As soon as the helicopter settled, Du Preez jumped out with one of the wooden crates, which was filled with rolls of white cloth. He unrolled the one-foot-wide strips on the ground, creating a massive 90-foot by 60-foot rectangle. This rectangle represented the presidential guard barracks and was sized proportionally based on measurements from satellite photos.
Once the target area was set up, Keith instructed Sien to start the helicopter and climb to an altitude of 1,500 feet, adjusting the position using the camera feed. When the helicopter was in a hover, Keith took out a sighting device with a bubble level, lay at the cabin door, and looked down through the crosshairs, ensuring the helicopter was directly over the target area.
After confirming the position, he opened the second crate and took out the experimental “ammunition”—the thin burlap sacks. Each sack was identical in size and filled with 11 pounds of sand, approximating the weight of an 81mm mortar shell produced in South Africa.
Keith donned noise-canceling headphones, grabbed one of the sandbags, and moved to the cabin door. Holding the sandbag with outside the cabin, he radioed Du Preez on the ground, “1,500 feet, first drop, get ready.”
“Ground ready,” Du Preez replied over the radio, having already retreated to a safe distance.
“Three—two—one—” Keith counted down and released the sandbag.
The sandbag plummeted under gravity, its tied-off mouth flapping erratically in the wind like a tan ribbon.
“Thud—” The bag hit the ground with a dull impact, raising a cloud of pale yellow dust.
“Missed.” Du Preez’s voice crackled in Keith’s headphones.
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Annotations:
Alouette III : A light single-engine multipurpose helicopter produced by Aérospatiale of France.
K-Car Gunship : A light attack helicopter modified from the “Alouette III” by the South African military, armed with an MG151 or a Mk V Hispano 20mm cannon.