The first problem was that they sent us an airplane from JFK with a non-working APU (auxiliary power unit). The 747 uses compressed air to start its engines. Normally, the APU provides that air. It's a small turbine engine, actually the same one used as the main engines for some models of Learjets. Bleed air from its compressor stages pressurizes the 747's pneumatic duct for air conditioning and engine starting, and its generator provides electrical power until the 747's engines are brought on line.

If you don't have an APU, ground electrics can supply power, and a ground pneumatic cart can supply the air. However, no air cart was available to us until we were ready to start engines. So, on a summer day we had no air conditioning while loading the passengers, and the front two seats in the cockpit are almost unbearable in that situation, especially with the sun streaming in through the windows.

Additionally, Tower dispatch screwed up big time, misrouting us, misnaming us, and taking forever to sort out the problem. It turned out it was a subservice for Air Zimbabwe rather than, as I had thought it would be, a subservice for British Airways. Dispatch gave us a Tower Air call sign rather than Air Zimbabwe, not a good idea when you're sending the flight over Algeria. They also messed up the flight plan filing, making it not match the actual flight plan, and finally they made us do an unnecessary fuel stop in Harare, Zimbabwe, which caused later problems. We finally left London's Gatwick airport two hours late; all of it due to Tower's problems.

It was my leg down; nine and one half hours roughly down a north to south line through the middle of the African continent. Over half the route there was no air traffic control due to regional conflicts, lack of communications facilities, and the like. Everybody announces their position over a common air-to-air frequency so the crews can provide their own separation. It's worse than South America.

The fun started when we landed in Harare, Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe used to be Rhodesia. Harare used to be Salsbury. It's still the capital.

Airport elevation is about 5000 feet, but they've got a long runway. In that situation, and especially when it's supposed to be a quick turn around (refueling only), I prefer to not use the automatic brakes to keep them from heating up. However, this captain believes in automatic brakes on every landing. Touchdown was smooth, but unfortunately the anti-skid system failed on one of wheels, it's brake locked for a bit, and produced a flat spot on one of the tires on the left body gear. The flat spot was about 20 inches by 14 inches, and ate through four plies. Had we not used automatic breaking, the lockup probably wouldn't have occurred. Oh well.

So, a tire change was necessary. Then when we went to start, we found that the air cart they brought out just couldn't handle it. When we asked for a second air cart—you can hook up two at once—they informed us the second one was broke. We had purposely asked if they had two air carts available when we arrived, and they had told us they did. They neglected to tell us that one was broke. We had to wait around while they borrowed another air cart from a private outfit on the field.