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Destination Unknown – Otto Herald and Manfred Pollak
Destination Unknown – Otto Herald and Manfred Pollak
Listen here - Otto Herald and Manfred Pollak
Otto Herald, a young pilot with Austrian Airlines, was looking forward to Christmas. And, Captain Manfred Pollak also needed a few days off from the routine of flying. They'd had a busy year. And, with snow on the ground, there was a wonderful feeling in town. Vienna was happy and in a good Christmas mood.
But, then, Vienna was thrown into a nightmare. Things had dramatically changed. It was the 22nd of December, 1975. And, because of this nightmare, Otto Herald and Captain Manfred Pollak were preparing for take-off. Their flight was unscheduled with no return leg and going to destination unknown.
And, then the passengers boarded. A small group of terrorists and their hostages. And, the terrorist leading the terror was Carlos. The most notorious, most feared, most dangerous, and most wanted man in the world. And, the hostages were the oil ministers of OPEC. And, amongst them, the most powerful of all, Sheik Yamane of Saudi Arabia.
And, it was just after lunch on the previous day when the story began.
The annual meeting of OPEC oil ministers was nearing its end. Soon, everyone would be on their way home. There was a very good feeling. The meeting had been a success. And, then, without warning, it happened. The nightmare began. The meeting was stormed by Carlos and his small group of terrorists. The oil ministers were now down on the floor with their hands on their heads. Guns speak a very clear language.
And, then the talking began. And, there was nothing that Austria could do. In those days, there were no special forces, and, with one policeman already dead, the terrorist's demands were agreed to in full. Life was more important than principle. And, the terrorist's demands included a message in French to be read out at 2 hourly intervals on the radio, meals and drinks from the Intercontinental Hotel, and a plane to take them and their hostages out of the country. But, of course, a plane needs a crew.
At Austrian Airlines, the call for volunteers went out. A crew was needed. And, two of the many who volunteered were Otto Herald and Captain Manfred Pollak. And, they were selected. And, it was hard to pretend whilst sitting in the cockpit and waiting. This flight was to be different. There were no guarantees. Otto Herald and Captain Manfred Pollak knew they may never return. Now, they were no longer thinking of Christmas.
And, then they were off. They had been cleared for take off to destination unknown. And, as they took off and climbed into the cold winter sky, the world held its breath!
But, they needn't have worried. Everything went off OK. And, their flight turned into a tour of Middle East capitals with a hostage release at each stop. And, when reaching Algiers, Carlos and his gang simply disappeared into thin air. Otto Herald and Manfred Pollak were alone in their plane. The journey had ended. And, before very long, they were on their way home. Now, destination Vienna and Christmas.
But, there was one small story that Otto Herald never forgot.
Because there had been no hostesses on board, it was far too dangerous, Otto Herald had volunteered to serve coffee - Coffee was all that they had. And, everyone was happy. That is to say, all except one. One of the hostages, an oil minister, rudely rejected the offer of coffee and demanded a tea! Otto Herald was unable to help. The oil minister then became even angrier. And then, later, when Otto Herald went to clear-up the dirties, one of the terrorists stopped him. The still none too happy and miserable minister was ordered to clear-up instead. There were to be no more passenger complaints for the rest of the flight. And, that was the worst thing that happened on the flight to destination unknown.
And, 6 months later, Captain Manfred Pollak and Otto Herald were decorated for bravery by the President of Austria. And, of course, both carried on flying and Otto Herald was promoted to captain. And, as everyone knows, captains can never stop flying, and after retirement, both captains spent lots of their time flying their fleets of scale model planes.
But, no models, however impressive, can ever replace the Viscounts, DC9s, and Airbuses which the two men once flew. Life, for these men was up in the sky. And, they never forgot their flight to destination unknown.
Two very courageous men, Captain Otto Herald and Captain Manfred Pollak. They volunteered for a Christmas time flight with a difference. A flight where the first officer served coffee - and a hostage cleared up the dirties!
Destination unknown. Captain Otto Herald and Captain Manfred Pollak.
Vocabulary – Wortschatz
according – laut
accomplice – Komplize
brave – tapfer
consideration – Betrachtung
courage – Mut
decorated – ausgezeichnet
demand – Forderung
destination – Zielort
difficult position – Schwere Position
dirties – Schmutzige Geschirr
except – außer
experience – erleben
hostage – Geisel
impressive – beeindruckend
notorious – berüchtigt
promoted (promote/promoted/promoted)– gefordert
retirement – Ruhestand
rudely – unwirsch
volunteer - Freiwilliger
