African Airplane Mechanic

Accra, Ghana December 23, 2006. Could not find any mechanics to resolve a problem with one of our hydraulic systems - the one that makes the landing gear go up and down! So had to take matters into my own hands in order to make it home in time for Christmas.
Many thanks to our ground handler and some rampers in Dakkar for their help in finding some skydrol (hydraulic fluid).
We flew this DC9 aircraft from Arizona to D. R. Congo with no overnight rest stop along the way. Steve and I were awake for somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 hours. We made our Air France flight out of Kinshasa by about 4 hours, otherwise we would have been stuck there until January 5th.