For God’s sake! Now what?! The sight before me was nothing short of terrifying. A multi-colored, fiercely clad crowd surged toward me, armed with an imposing assortment of blades, clubs, and other menacing implements. Only moments ago, the area had been eerily silent, devoid of any sign of life. Now, it was as if the earth itself was spitting people out in droves. They appeared from every direction, so numerous and frenzied that estimating their numbers was utterly impossible. Probably well over 200 men, women, and children were storming towards me, the first few already reaching my small airplane and beginning to rock it. The sheer mass of people was overwhelming, and I was so stunned by the spectacle that the thought of taking a picture didn’t even cross my mind.
Instead, I fumbled out my cell phone with trembling hands and made a desperate call to Arnie, a local friend whose airstrip I was using at the time in Limuru, 20 miles north of Nairobi.
“Arnie,” I stammered, “You need to help me out here... fast.”
If anyone would know how to handle this, it was him, or so I hoped.
How had I managed to land myself in this pickle in the first place?
An opening excerpt from What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Chronicles of Chaos and Courage remains available here. The full book can be ordered here.
🎧 Hear This Scene in My Voice
“Almost Slaughtered in the Ghetto” – Kenya, Spring 2012
From the book What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Chronicles of Chaos and Courage
Direct from the audiobook “What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Chronicles of Chaos and Courage”, this is the scene where I, Marcel Romdane—self-proclaimed bush pilot, disaster magnet, and airborne regret factory—almost met my doom thanks to rain clouds, poor judgment, and a complete lack of plan B.
If you like your narrators deranged, your cockpit cramped, and your weather life-threatening, hit play.
🎧 Narrated under mild panic and questionable hygiene standards.
This scene is real. I lived it. And now you can hear it.
If this doesn’t scare off your podcast playlist, nothing will.
Subscribe. Or don’t. The crash already happened.
TOP IMAGE:
Moments before chaos. I still thought I was a pilot. What I actually was: a sunburnt idiot in a flying tin can, about to tango with ghetto airspace, engine coughs, and an urban welcome party that didn’t do hugs.
☠️ Where Flight Plans Go To Die ☠️
This wasn’t a flight chart — it was a suicide note printed on orange paper. Kenya’s sky‑map of doom: missing rivers, false runways, and enough bad intel to turn any bush pilot into compost. Welcome to What Could Possibly Go Wrong? — Exhibit A.
