I write this with my teeth clenched and eyes closed in fervent prayer for the ubiquitous “journey mercies” that all spiritually inclined mortals routinely ask for. I am about five to ten thousand feet above some Dar es Salaam outskirts where exactly an hour ago the captain’s disembodied voice crackled over the radio, ” Er..ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem with the landing gear which has refused to retract making our flight impossible to complete. We are turning back to Dar es Salaam airport to have the engineers have a look at what the problem might be.” Even the chap in seat 20A who had been snoring way before the plane taxied to the runway for take off was bright eyed and bushy tailed by the time the captain signed off. I guess even the deepest slumber is impervious to the stealthy scent of danger.

Return to Dar we did and after much personal hemming and hawing about how no one was telling us anything – upon which I turned to my very cathartic Twitter to vent my tribulations – we were put on a different plane within thirty minutes of landing with the same crew. So here I now am praying that I never get to hear the Captain’s voice until we start our descent into Nairobi. He is the leader of this flying metal tube in whose hands my fate lies. He is a positional leader in my case. I didn’t choose to follow him, he has just assumed a position of leadership over me, granted by his employer whose service I have chosen to utilize.

I have absolutely no idea what he looks like nor his level of training or experience. But he managed a difficult situation very well. He a) was open and honest about the fact that the plane had developed a problem b) told us the solution which was to turn back and have engineers look at the plane c) got off the radio quickly enough to attend to the business of getting the plane back on the ground safely.

In January 2009, US Airways’ fifty seven year old Captain Chelsey Sullenberger, shot to global fame when he made a technically difficult landing with a damaged airplane. The plane had developed problems after both of its engines were hit by birds and burst into flames seconds after take off from New York’s La Guardia Airport. Captain Sullenberger was faced with the most defining moments of any pilot’s career. Crash or land. He knew he had to land the plane but there was no time to make it back to La Guardia. The nearest potential landing space that was wide enough to accommodate his plane were the frigid cold waters of the nearby Hudson River. With 155 souls on board, he brought the plane to a shuddering halt on the water and nearby ships and tugboats rushed to the rescue of passengers who were rushing off the sinking vessel. The captain did not leave the vessel until he walked the length of the plane twice to make sure that absolutely everyone got off.

Sullenberger’s leadership abilities in making a instant judgment call to make a river landing rather than waffling with indecision have earned him a place in the airline industry’s hall of fame as there were no fatalities and relatively few injuries. Of course, the outcome could have gone horribly wrong and the plane could have broken on impact as happened to the 1994 terrorist instigated sea landing of Ethiopian airways in the Comoros Islands.

Earlier this year, my significant other and I made a trip to Guanghzou, China following the well-trodden footsteps of thrill seekers and curious tourists of the mysterious orient. As we took off from Guanghzou, the plane undertook a very labored ascent and seemed to come to an excruciatingly slow glide over the twinkling city lights below us. We looked at each other not in wonderment at the crystal clear view of the soaring buildings and insidious network of roads crisscrossing the metropolis. No, we both sensed deep within ourselves at exactly the same time that there was something manifestly wrong with the plane. There was not a word from the captain of the plane. We limped along and somehow the plane managed to get a bizarre sudden burst of energy that propelled us southwest to Bangkok where a completely new crew came on board, led by the very capable Captain S. to take the plane on its final journey to Nairobi. As the plane was being pushed back from the terminal it made a sudden stop and we found ourselves moving back to the original parking spot. Captain S. immediately came on the radio “Ladies and gentlemen, I have made a decision to stop this flight as there is a problem in the engine that I am not comfortable with.” Turns out that it was a major problem and the part for the engine had to be brought from Nairobi the next day meaning we had to stay in Bangkok for another 24 hours.

Three completely unrelated situations with three similar positive outcomes. Leaders are thrust, nay, imposed upon us in our ordinary daily lives. Quite often we have a choice to walk away from bad leadership in our work places or in our places of worship by finding other jobs or places to worship. But we can’t walk away from our political leaders, just as we cannot get off a plane mid air when a technical problem has arisen which requires a calm temperament and rationale decision making. As we head for voter registration this week, we need to ask ourselves whether the names on the ballot papers next year are ones we would be comfortable with in a captain’s seat. Can they make difficult decisions with the best interests of passengers (citizens) at heart or will they waffle with indecision? Can they make an expensive judgment call to stop a flight and instead put passenger safety first? Frankly, I don’t just know.

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