bout de papier, Vol. 3, No. 2 (1985) — Summer 1985 // Été 1985, pp. 6–7
A new chapter was added to the black art of aircraft clearances in the early days of November last year when our SSEA, Joe Clark, made his departure for Addis Ababa from Delhi after attending Mrs. Gandhi’s funeral. The morale of the episode is: Always have a beer before lunch.
The Canadian delegation boarded the CAF 707 at Delhi’s Palam Airport at 10:30 a.m. only to learn that the critical clearance from Democratic Yemen had not/not yet come through. The word from Jedda was encouraging: the go-ahead could be expected in not/not less than two hours and not/not more than — at that point the line went dead. Even more encouraging was the advice from the captain of a Saudi jumbo to go ahead and chance it: it was unlikely that aircraft would be shot down.
With the hours and minutes ticking by and with accompanying journalists’ comments becoming downright rude, it was only natural that the passengers should offer the captain the benefit of their collective wisdom. Navigation charts were fetched from the cockpit and a select group, under the leadership of De Montigny Marchand, applied itself to the task of finding an alternative route to Addis.
Naturally, a number of useful proposals were put forward. Someone had a friend in the Maldives and was sure the aircraft could land there. Someone else suggested refuelling in Somalia. Still another proposal, put forward by a member of the High Commission staff, was that the aircraft take off forthwith and simply fly up and down the African coast until it found an opening. After much consideration by the select group and another mirror committee, the conclusion was reached that the aircraft did indeed have to overfly Democratic Yemen. The charts were returned to the cockpit and a case of beer was broken out.
With the benefit of a beer before lunch, an alert passenger noted that the Air India jumbo parked on the tarmac beside the Canadian aircraft had been replaced by a Yemen I Boeing 727 – whether from the south or north could not be determined The flight crew, not very open to advice after the failure of the select group, scoffed at suggestions that contact be established. Playing long odds, however, emissaries were dispatched at 12:45 p.m. Armed Yemeni guards were not/not particularly receptive, but after some persuasion agreed to call the aircraft captain.
Fortuitously, the Yemeni President happened to be abroad and preparing for his own departure. At 12:47 p.m. the President said he would be happy to have the Canadians tag along.
The final pre-departure act was a bilateral between the SSEA and the Yemeni foreign minister midway between the two aircraft. Assurances of high regard were exchanged, whereupon the latter graciously invited the SSEA to have his pilot follow them. Watching journalists in the Canadian aircraft were quick to dub the episode “Tarmac Diplomacy”.
The President departed Delhi at 1:45 p.m. in the general direction of Yemen (south or north was of little concern to the High Commission) with the SSEA in hot pursuit.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 3, No. 2 (1985) — Summer 1985 // Été 1985, pp. 6–7. Read the rest of this issue →
