The Islander’s arrival – Remembering the plane that came by boat |05 September 2026

Skippy – The plane that came by boat

Some moments linger long after the banners are folded and the delegates fly home. For anyone who stood on that Seychelles beach in July 2012, one image endures: a small, retired aircraft resting on the sand, waves lapping nearby, its fuselage covered in handwritten signatures beneath the warm island sky.

They called her Skippy.

She was a Britten-Norman Islander, born in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight – a sturdy workhorse built for short hops and rugged runways. By 2012 her flying days were over. Yet there she stood, dressed in Routes and Routes Africa emblems, the unlikely star of the Networking Evening at the 7th edition of Africa’s premier air transport forum. 

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