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Wednesday, 27th January 1993
This day found me sitting in the left seat of a twin-engine Boeing 737-200A, commanding Flight BL 792 from Saigon to Hanoi for Pacific Airlines.
I had finished the cockpit pre-start checks,
and was waiting for my first officer to complete his exterior pre-flight walk-around
inspection; and of course the passengers.
It gave me time to ponder my situation; the past two months being
fraught with surprises.
Let’s start with Pacific Airlines; a new airline founded by Director General Le Van Chung, a former commander in the PPS (Peoples Public Security of Vietnam - similar to the Soviet KGB).
Upon retirement from the PPS, Chung was given a choice by a grateful
government: either a gold watch or...something else. Chung chose “something else,” the second
airline certificate for Vietnam. Thus
Pacific Airlines was born.
When I arrived at Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in late December 1992,
Pacific Airlines had contracted with a French company to supply a 737 and crew,
as well as a Thai company to provide the same.
The Thai company was TRAC Aviation of Bangkok, who in turn hired me as
Chief Pilot and 737 Captain.
In early November of 1992, Air Atlanta, from Iceland, leased TRAC a
single B-737-200A. But first Air Atlanta
had to repossess this 737 from Cambodia Airlines who defaulted on payments, literally
stealing it from Cambodia, and flying it to Singapore for a Pacific Airlines
paint job.
Oh yes, dear reader, airlines in
Southeast Asia are a murky business.
Afterward I returned to Patong Beach, Phuket, and waited for TRAC to
dispatch me to Singapore and pick up the 737 fresh from the paint shop at Paya
Lebar Air Base.
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While killing time, waiting for my “orders,” the “circus” came to town
in the form of a movie company. Before I
could say, “I’m ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille,” I got tagged for a part in
the movie! The next thing I know I’m
auditioning for Director Oliver Stone.
The film was Heaven and Earth, based on author Le Ly Hayslip’s autobiography of the war in Vietnam. In my scene, I’m playing a Huey co-pilot describing the CIA torture of a suspected Viet Cong in the back, to the pilot flying the helicopter. Ultimately they toss the victim out the door. The guy playing the pilot was an American who had actually flown Hueys in the Vietnam War. I, on the other hand, had also flown the Huey as co-pilot with PHI (Petroleum Helicopters Inc.). So our terminology and reactions were what helicopter pilots would naturally say and do. Hence Stone loved it, and hired us on the spot to repeat our performance while flying a real Huey provided by the Thai Army.
Unfortunately the Army reneged; saying their insurance wouldn’t cover
us. The live-flying torture scene was
scratched and done in a soundstage at Hollywood instead; becoming a cheesy knock-off.
Stone had a USMC Fire Base and Vietnamese Village constructed side by side at Phang Nga Province, on the Thai mainland next to Phuket Island. The movie company arrived too early in the middle of the western monsoon, requiring them to sit on their butts for three months at Phuket until it passed. Despite the colossal loss of money, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, for the shots they got of emerald-green rice fields and mountainous jungle against startling-clear skies were spectacular. All because of the monsoon’s passage; clearing, cleaning and greening everything up.
Since my “big break” in showbiz was squelched, I ended up doing extra work, playing a “baby-killing mud-Marine,” guarding a large spool of barbed wire. While Thai Army trucks, tanks and Hueys whizz around my person; all this stuff being war surplus that the U.S. Army dumped on the Thais when they left Vietnam.
Oh well, dear reader, at least
they gave me a brand new M-16 fresh out
of the factory’s waxed paper, but no ammo; my ammo-pouches being filled with
blocks of wood. As it had never been
fired, and was so pristine, I cried like a baby when I had to return it to
props.
Now
we arrive at the oxymoron that exists between Director/Producer Oliver Stone
and me. The Stone would have given his
right testicle to film Heaven and Earth
in Vietnam. However, due to his military
service with the U.S. Army in Vietnam, he was marked persona non grata by the Vietnamese Government. That’s why he ended up filming in Thailand
instead.
When the movie “wrapped” in Thailand, and Stone dragged his weary, alcoholic, grass-laced butt back to Tinsel Town to finish it, I, on the other hand, whistled off to Vietnam to fly a 737 out of Saigon.
Honestly, dear reader, I’m not a
big-time Hollywood Director/Producer; merely a ragged-assed air-whore. Nonetheless
the Vietnamese Government welcomed me with open arms; life at times can be so
bizarre.
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