Back to Bosnia: Maybe Airlines

Twenty years ago today I landed in Bosnia to start a peacekeeping tour in a place where there was no peace to keep. I arrived in Zagreb, Croatia in the early hours of 27 October 1993 and waited seven hours for my ride into Sarajevo on Maybe Airlines, the flight service conducted by the Norwegians using military aircraft from Canada, Britain, Russia, Germany and other nations. 

Maybe Airlines got its name from the answers you’d get if you showed up at the airport looking for a seat on a flight. This is how journalist David Hands described it:

You: “Is there a plane going to Split today?”
Maybe Airlines: “Maybe”
You: “Is it taking journalists?”
Maybe Airlines: “Maybe”
You: “Are there seats on this plane?”
Maybe Airlines: “Maybe”
You: “Is it going to be on time?”
Maybe Airlines: “Maybe”
You: “Can I take all my equipment on board?”
Maybe Airlines: “Maybe”
You: “Are we going to be shot down?”
Maybe Airlines: “No”
You: “No? What do you mean by NO? You are supposed to say Maybe.”
Maybe Airlines: “We never say maybe on that question because you may be shot down and we don’t want to scare you off. Have a pleasant flight!”
You: “Maybe”

When you get aboard, there’s a unique safety briefing (if you can hear it over the engines). This is what journalist David Hands wrote:

“Welcome on board Maybe Airlines flight to Sarajevo. Please listen carefully to the
following safety instructions. This is a non smoking flight. Please refrain from smoking in the toilet and near the ammunition. Make sure your seat belt is fastened at all times. Please put on the life vest over your bulletproof jacket. Please wear this parachute over your bulletproof jacket. Some of you may have never used a parachute before but do not worry about it. When we say jump, jump. Thank you for flying Maybe Airlines. Have a pleasant flight.”

Maybe.

All kidding aside, the flight into Sarajevo was a ride like no other. The airport is located in a valley and the glide slope sits between hills high enough to make the aircraft vulnerable to enemy fire. For this reason, the aircraft had to conduct a maneuver perfected in Vietnam but now known the Sarajevo Approach.

The aircraft would approach the airport at altitude until just short of the runway then dive at a an angle not unlike a World War II dive bomber and pull up just as it reached the tarmac. This video is an airshow example of the maneuver. The only difference from my flight is that this one is much much shorter.

As you can imagine, from inside the plane, with the engines screaming, no windows and no idea what was going to happen, this landing was both exhilarating and terrifying. Part of you is thinking this is normal and part is wondering if an anti-aircraft gun has taken out a wing. All I could do was hold my breath for the 20 to 30 seconds that we were falling and for the twenty years since, I haven’t been able to board an aircraft without flashing back to that feeling of falling, of having no control.

As for my stomach, it’s still in Sarajevo, floating somewhere around ten thousand feet.

Maybe.