Sunday 31st January,
Flew from Glasgow to Dubai,
Emirates Boeing 777-300 to Dubai, via; Denmark, North Germany/Poland, down over Black Sea to Dubai. A near miss was surely noted over the Germany/Poland leg. Davie drew my attention to an airliner approaching from our left. It’s position being highlighted by the four streams of black smoke from it’s engines. -’Must be a military jet? Or a Russian fuelled one, perhaps? It’s approach gained momentum fast so I grabbed the camera. As I was frantically getting the camera ready and lined up, the airliner seam to be accelerating so fast now as it rose up and banked to its left. It was gone, somewhere within 400 yards above and behind our tail! I never did get the picture.
We stayed the night in Dubai then flew on to Sydney in the Airbus 380-800. Finally we made the relatively short flight to Auckland.
I had been well informed by “them and those” of the strict Bio-security requirements on entering New Zealand. But nothing can compare with the real thing. I was impressed.
New Zealand have two Customs checks: the normal passport and luggage one, and, in between, the Bio-Security check point! This is run by their Dept. of Agriculture. Before leaving Scotland, some of my non-farming heroes warned me “no mud on shoes; don’t tell them you’re a farmer!” I can assure you that the first thing I said to the officer at Bio-Security was “I’m a farmer”. I handed over the Bio-Security form which I had filled in on the aircraft. (It was handed to us all within an hour of leaving Sydney). He was a young man and I think we both immediately respected each other’s positions. He was happy to know that I was not wearing any clothing that I would have worn on the farm. I told him that I had washed and disinfected my shoes before leaving home. I gave him and his Government my sincere congratulations on their actions for Bio-Security and told him that we have been trying to tell our own Government to waken up for years. He was noticeably taken-back with this traveller leading the conversation at his check point. I think he was equally impressed with me as we parted in friendly accord.