In and Out of Africa

One passenger? No wonder airline's broke
Reuters News Service

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's government has criticized the cash-strapped national
airline for flying unviable routes, including one trip which saw an Air Zimbabwe jet fly 3,728
miles from Dubai with a solitary passenger aboard.

The official Herald newspaper Monday quoted Transport and Communications Secretary
Karikoga Kaseke as saying Air Zimbabwe, struggling with chronic fuel shortages caused
by the country's acute economic crisis, was a victim of "inept management."

Local media reported earlier this month that Air Zimbabwe's maiden flight to Dubai,
a Boeing 737, left with 49 passengers on board and made the return flight with just one.

"Our investigations have revealed that no proper market research was done before they
(Air Zimbabwe) engaged on the Dubai trip," the Herald quoted Kaseke as saying.

"It reflects the level of mediocrity of the management at Air Zimbabwe and it also reflects
a management that has little knowledge of aviation, a management that acts on hearsay," he added.

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Pieces of plane stowaway's body land in yard
Reuters News Service

NEW YORK - Pieces of a man's body fell from the wheel well of a South African Airways
passenger plane bound for John F. Kennedy International Airport Tuesday and landed in
the yard of a suburban home, police said.

A U.S. customs inspector discovered the rest of the man's body at 7:30 a.m. after Flight 203
landed in New York from Johannesburg, South Africa, said a spokesman for the Port Authority
of New York and New Jersey, which oversees area airports.

A South African Airways spokeswoman said it appeared to have been a stowaway attempt.
She said the plane had stopped in Dakar, Senegal, on its way to New York.

The pilot reported feeling vibrations at takeoff but conducted a check and found nothing amiss,
said Nassau County, New York, police detective Kevin Smith.

During the flight, Smith said the pilot felt more ''vibrating sensations and heard pounding, but
nothing appeared wrong with the plane.''

The body parts, which included the right leg, part of the spine and a hip, struck a garage roof of
the home in South Floral Park, New York, before landing in the backyard, police said

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