Fraser was a very gentle guy, honest, sincere and just a nice guy, said Regan Kaiser, a former Graeme College pupil, in describing his friend who was tragically killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday morning.
Fraser was a very gentle guy, honest, sincere and just a nice guy, said Regan Kaiser, a former Graeme College pupil, in describing his friend who was tragically killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday morning.
Fraser Angus Carey, a former Kingswood pupil, was one of eight South Africans killed when a lone woman bomber reportedly rammed her explosives laden vehicle into a minibus transporting employees of the ACS/Balmoral team to Kabul airport. It has been reported that she was enraged by a YouTube video about the Prophet Mohammed.
Kaiser said he had met Carey in Jordan and they had worked together for the company on various missions in Iraq, Jordan and other places. Although they were part of a team, the two had a special bond because they were both from the Eastern Cape and had gone to school in Grahamstown.
Kaiser said he had also been friends with one of the other victims, Stephen Leong, from Johannesburg, whom he had met while flying missions all over Africa. He described Leong as a great guy, always the life of the party and always cracking jokes.
Asked about the ever present danger in places like Afghanistan, Kaiser said, You always know there is a danger but you try not to think about it too much.
He said they always took precautions while working in dangerous areas, which included avoiding routines. They would vary the route while driving to the airport. Even when flying they would change flight plans. One day they would fly very high and spiral down to the airport, while on another they might fly at low altitude. When they were in the vehicle they were also careful not to wear any uniforms or insignia that might identify them as pilots.
Kaiser said they had been flying unarmed planes for US Aid, transporting personnel from one place to another. Most of the time they transported people working for NGOs and sometimes they would fly soldiers, but they never carried weapons and had never part of military operations, he said.
The pilots took on dangerous missions such as those in Afghanistan because they were well paid and it was a good opportunity to build flying hours.
Kaiser has since left Balmoral and is currently working as a pilot for a commercial airline.
