AfriPulse
Captain Saviemaria Ondego has recounted the most difficult experience in her line of work ever since she got into the aviation business She was honoured with the heavy responsibility of repatriating the body of deceased ODM leader Raila Odinga Captain Ondego says she appreciated the emotional moment the country was in, and had to suppress her vulnerability to step up in the solemn national duty Eli Odaga, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings more than three years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.
The famed pilot who commanded the historic RAO-001 flight from India to Kenya has relived her moments in the flight deck as the world watched.
Captain Saviemaria Ondego (inset) was controlled the flight deck of Boeing 737-800 which flew the body of Raila Odinga from India to Nairobi. Photos: KQ.
Source: Twitter Captain Saviemaria Ondego was in charge of the foregoing flight, which returned the body of deceased ODM leader Raila Odinga to Kenya from India on Thursday, October 17.
RAO-001 was the flight code adopted in place of KQ203 to honour Raila.
How Captain Ondego flew Raila home It was not an easy experience for Captain Ondego inside the flight deck of the Boeing 737-800 bird.
She recounted it as the most strange experience in her aviation career, but she had to brave it and step up for the national duty.
“I’m Saviemaria Ondego… I’m a captain on the Boeing 737-800. It really was a surreal experience. Every day is not a normal day in our job, and just like any flight, we woke up to just fly our roster. But there was the heaviness and the responsibility to our country that made it not a normal flight,” she said. The weight of the moment at hand might have been manageable it became unbearable when she made the call to the cabin for the welcome briefing pre-flight.
Emotions got over her so that she could not let out her voice.
She had to pause, compose herself and brave the weight to address the passengers accompanying Raila’s body.
Albeit shaky and emotional, Captain Ondego took up the challenge with grace, and made her announcement and later a heartfelt tribute to the deceased ODM leader.
“To be honest, I went to speak and nothing came out. And I had to come off the speaker, take a deep breath, and then try again. And my voice was a little shaky, but it was important to me and somehow the words flowed,” she recalled. The KQ crew that operated the RAO-001 flight; Captain Saviemaria Ondego (pictured in coat with four bars) was the one flying the KQ-owned Boeing 737-800. Photo: KQ.
Source: Twitter What Captain Ondego told Kenyans, Raila’s family Whilst it might have been a normal day of taking on the skies, this particular flight placed her in place of history books after controlling the most tracked flight.
The captain condoled with fellow Kenyans and the bereaved family.
“To our country, to Kenyans all around, to the family of Honourable Raila Odinga; we are with them. Our hearts are with them. We love them and we are one as a country going forward,” she said. Jason Mosley, the performance manager on the particular flight, also had his own experience.
Indeed, a sad moment for the country, but he took pride in being charged with presiding over the operations in the cabin in the most important round journey ever flown by the national carrier.
“This was both emotional and overwhelming to me, you know, as an individual. But I knew that I had to go because I was representing Kenya Airways, I was representing the country. And it was an honour for me to be the one mandated by the company to go and accompany the flight and make sure that all protocols are observed and the Honourable Raila Odinga is brought safely home,” he said. Who went for Raila’s body in India? Meanwhile, on board the iconic flight as passengers were more than 30 members of a delegation dispatched by President William Ruto.
The delegation led by Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi comprised government officials and ODM party officials, among others.
They departed Kenya on Wednesday evening, October 15, the day Raila died. Their flight landed in Mumbai at dawn on Thursday, October 16.
They found the body had already been flown
Source: Tuko.co.ke | Read the Full Story…
