The talk of town at the moment is Kenya’s maiden direct flight to New York. President Uhuru Kenyatta flagged off KQ’s 787-8 Dreamliner from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for a 15 hour trip to the JF Kennedy Airport in New York.
The plane with 234 passengers, among them senior government officials led by Foreign Affairs CS Monica Juma and US Ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec is expected in the US some minutes around 1.30 pm Kenyan time.
We haven’t heard a lot about the pilot though. Captain Joseph Kinuthia will lead a team of three other pilots on this historic journey.
According to the 65 year old, he has been flying since he was 21 years and he is the most experienced pilot at KQ having more than 25,000 hours of flying history under his belt.
Surprisingly, this will be Kinuthia’s first flight to New York.
“Going to New York is unique because I have never flown there. I have only been there as a visitor. So it is going to be a fascinating and interesting challenge, and I feel honoured to do that for Kenya Airways.” He told Alex Chamwada during an interview with the journalist at his Runda Home.
Passengers on board however need not to be worried since the experienced Captain has flown a number of high profile people among them Pope John Paul II and retired President Daniel Moi.
Here he recounts of trips with the two persons, during the interview
“I have flown former President Daniel Moi many times. I flew him to Belgrade when Yugoslavia was one unit through KQ’s Boeing 707, then I flew him to Beijing and then to Auckland.
Probably, the crowing of my flying is when I flew Pope John Paul II when he came to Nairobi. It was an extraordinary thing he did because all the time the Pope flies Alitalia. John Paul II decided to break tradition because he was doing an African tour.
From Rome to Nigeria he flew Alitalia. Then from Lagos to South Africa he flew Nigerian Airways (the company later collapsed). From South Africa, he flew South African Airlines to Nairobi and from Nairobi, I was lucky to take him back home.”
Despite all these flights, the captain’s most important moment is set to be when he safely lands the 234 passengers in New York on Monday afternoon.