The Pilot's Mantra

The privilege of being a pilot, one faced with adversity,

let the recklessness of others serve to remind me that I owe nothing less to those lives so carelessly lost,

other than to stand firm, not to falter when challenged, no matter how absurd the personal cost.

Refusing to shirk from responsibilities both professional & moral, found inseparable, never to be untwined from the privileges gifted to me, I speak of nothing more than the trust that my passengers have so blindly placed in me.

(C) Capt Nigel Pogmore

      2016

The Pilots Mantra

One faced with adversity

Evidently, UK-owned Serengeti Balloon Safaris had not learnt lessons from their three previous accidents and went on to establish a trend with three further yet consecutive accidents that took place in  2008, 2009 and 2010.

Exhausting the meaning of hypocrisy, days after the fatal accident of 2010, SBS Director Tony Pascoe demanded $500,000 in compensation from me, the pilot who had warned of more accidents to come. Justifying that demand, it was me that was damaging their company, apparently not the deaths and Life-changing injuries of their passengers.

Having dismissed their safety officer just days after  I went against the company policy in demonstrating the nerve to raise passenger safety concerns in what some could describe as an accident-prone company.

SBS: After hiring questionable characters with instructions to hunt me down and punish me, I was subjected to death threats. Later, 20-faced masked men with batons surrounded our Kathmandu home that had come looking for me. We were away at the time, my wife and I had to go into hiding. in 2015

In 2015 Returning to the UK to face malicious charges, I was arrested at London Heathrow Airport, handcuffed,& transported in a prison van to Bristol prison. Six weeks later, I am released on bail; however, with yet more hypocrisy, I am to be electronically tagged and placed on a curfew. Obviously, it's far too dangerous to have a safety officer on the loose around Warwickshire.

Throughout 2015 to 2018, after no less than 54 court appearances, I was totally exonerated, yet despite that, SBS, desperate to maintain my silence, applied to the court for a restraining order. That hearing didn't take more than five minutes. Really, there's nothing to discuss.

Initially, HHJ Heart appeared irritated yet at the same time bemused at such a preposterous application. Scowling at the Wigged and gowened  CPS proposer, "NO, The defendant has been acquitted. Not only is he a free man, Mr Pogmore is a highly intelligent individual; he knows what he can say and what he can't say. Isn't that right, Mr Pogmore? With a broad smile, I replied with  matched elegance! "I couldn't have put it better myself  your Honour ". All Rise”.

That appears to be the end of a nine-year saga;  forgive me for once more referring to the post office saga; similar to that scandal, it's not over, nor could such a life-changing event ever be over. I would spend the next six years attending  counselling,  at the same time placed on antidepressants.

At the time of  this  Feb 2024, I was five months clear of any medication; now, there are more good days than bad; writing about this ordeal is a big help.

I shall always be indebted to those who supported me throughout this ordeal, Namely Martin (RIP), Sonya, Chris & Heather, Ann & Brenda, Gez Mike & Helga, and Mike & Leigh. There are others in far-off lands that I can't mention due to concerns about their personal security.

  A big thank-you must go to the residents of the villages where I live who accepted me even with all the baggage that I arrived with. Sorry, due to previous threats,  on advice from UK authorities, I shall not identify the village by name.

From the Serengeti

A million tears

Pour

By  Capt Nigel Pogmore

Former Pilot & Safety officer

Serengeti Balloon Safaris

SBS went on the attack, placing malicious criminal cases, 20-faced masked men with batons surrounding our Kathmandu home. We were away at the time.