When the skies said goodbye

At Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, two fire trucks rolled into position on the tarmac as an aircraft taxied slowly forward. In an instant, twin arcs of water rose into the sky, forming a ceremonial arch. The jet moved through the mist, briefly disappearing before re-emerging on the other side.

Inside the cockpit, Captain Jeff Dusang remained composed behind dark sunglasses. But the gesture marked something deeply personal: after 49 years in aviation, it was his final arrival as a commercial airline captain.

“It touched me. I was struggling to keep my eyes dry,” he recalled. “It was very emotional.”

The farewell in Nairobi carried extra weight for the Canadian-born pilot who had chosen Kenya as his home late in his career.

Dusang’s fascination with flight began early in Canada, where he spent his childhood watching aircraft trace lines across the sky.

“I just kept looking at the sky… that fascination stayed with me,” he said.

At 16, he joined a flying club, beginning ground school in navigation, meteorology and flight planning before moving on to small aircraft such as the Cessna 150 and 152. By 17, he had his private pilot’s licence, and by 18, he was already instructing others.

His early aviation years were physically demanding. He worked at a flying club as a dispatcher, fuelling aircraft, checking oil, filing flight plans and even pushing planes by hand.

“There were no tractors then. You did everything yourself. It was hard work,” he said.

Just as his career was taking off, Canada’s aviation industry stalled during the early 1980s recession. Jobs disappeared and opportunities dried up.

“I travelled everywhere looking for work. Everywhere it was the same answer—there were no jobs,” he recalled.

The experience shaped his resilience.

“You don’t give up. Aviation teaches you that.”

When the industry recovered, he joined regional airlines, flying across Canada and into the United States in demanding, fast-changing airspace such as New York. He later became a flight instructor and examiner with FlightSafety International, training pilots across the world, including in Australia.

Choosing Kenya

In 2015, Dusang visited Nairobi for what was meant to be a short assignment. Instead, it changed his life.

“It opened my eyes. I knew there was something different here,” he said.

A year later, he left a senior airline position in Toronto and moved to Kenya, joining 748 Air Services as pilot and Director of Safety. His work included humanitarian flights into volatile regions such as South Sudan and Somalia.

“These flights require a different level of preparation,” he explained.

His last journey as a commercial pilot was modest in distance—Nairobi to Mombasa and back—but deeply symbolic.

He woke at 2am as usual, following his strict routine. Even his cockpit access code, “1665,” reflected his journey: from age 16 to 65.

On the flight, Mount Kilimanjaro appeared in the distance as he pointed it out to passengers. The landing in Mombasa drew applause.

“I always believed you should meet your passengers,” he said. “I told them it was my second-last flight.”

The return to Nairobi carried heavier emotion.

“This is it… the final one,” he recalled thinking. “Don’t mess it up.”

He did not. The landing was, in his words, one of his best.

A water salute farewell

Back on the ground, the fire truck salute at JKIA marked the official end of his commercial flying career.

“I was thinking about everything—the flights, the places, the people,” he said.

Aviation regulations require pilots to retire from commercial flying at 65, something Dusang reflects on critically.

“In other professions, people continue working. In aviation, we just stop,” he said. “But I accept the rules.”

Though his commercial flying days are over, Dusang is not stepping away from aviation. Instead, he is returning to instruction—this time in Kenya, where he has obtained a local flight instructor rating.

“I can now pass on all these years of experience to young pilots here,” he said.

He hopes to strengthen collaboration between Kenyan and Canadian aviation authorities and improve access to training.

“There are many niche areas in aviation training that can be developed here,” he added.

From a curious boy in Canada to a seasoned captain in Nairobi, Dusang’s career has spanned nearly five decades, multiple continents and countless skies.

He has flown through storms, across oceans, into some of the world’s busiest and most demanding airspaces, and trained generations of pilots along the way.

But for him, aviation has never just been about flying.

“It’s about persistence, discipline and curiosity,” he said.

As one chapter closes, another begins on the ground in Kenya; where the captain who once crossed skies now turns to shaping those who will follow.