A plane I boarded made an emergency landing at an abandoned airstrip after the pilot indicated that he wash actually unfit to fly a commercial plane. He then asked if there was any pilot or anyone with reasonable flight experience on board. Three men raised their hands.

The pilot then made us (the passengers) choose from the three men, but first it was required that they speak and show proof of their license to fly a plane of that capacity.

The first man stood up. He presented his license and certifications as a commercial pilot of a smaller plane.

He told us how he flew a commercial plane for 8 years and how he was able to navigate the heavy turbulence he frequently encountered mid-air. He showed us a workable plan on how he intended to fly us to our desired destination. He took a bow and sat down. We applauded him.

It was time for the second man to speak. He managed to stand with the assistance of his friends who also boarded. We immediately protested and made it clear to him that he apparently was unwell and so couldn't be allowed to fly the plane. His friends fought back.

Whilst his friends argued with us on why he should be allowed to fly us, the man kept muttering "It's my turn". We decided to give him the benefit of doubt and finally allowed him to speak. We asked him, "Your turn to do what?" He responded, "It's my turn to fly this plane."

We asked him to show his licences before we could proceed. It turned out to be that the man had flown another plane in the past which he verily mismanaged and is currently in a terrible condition. We also discovered that the man had been stealing the plane's maintenance fund.

We demanded an explanation to these discoveries but again his friends on the plane fought us. They told us that all these discoveries didn't matter and that the only agenda now was to ensure that he flies the plane, to which we firmly rejected. As result, a war of words ensued.

It was in this heated argument that the third man who had already been forgotten stood up and yelled that he should be allowed to speak. We then asked him to present his qualifications. He presented his license but had in fact never flown a plane as he was only a co-pilot.

We also discovered that as a co-pilot for 8 years, he was known for syphoning the plane's maintenance funds and had built an empire out of it, just like the second man. We rejected him and told him that we didn't want what happened to his former plane to happen to ours.

At this point we had heard from all three supposed pilots and we had to make a choice. Remember that we were in an abandoned airstrip and didn't know the danger that could be out there.

The first man reiterated his commitment to fly the plane diligently to our destination.

The second man re-emphasised that it was his turn to fly the plane and nothing would stop him despite his illness and negative precedents that trailed him. He went ahead to instigate some passengers to choose him over the other two on the basis that they shared a common ethnicity.

Some of the passengers who shared the same ethnicity fell for the bias, but majority of them stood their ground and insisted that he was not fit to fly the plane. At this point, most of us had already pitched our tents with the person we saw as the most qualified; the first man.

The second pilot's friends decided to make up stories to ruin the first pilot's reputation, but we didn't take their word for it. We did our research, verified and saw that all the allegations were false and that indeed, the first man is truly who he says he is.

The third man who we had forgotten, again, yelled out. "I am still here" This got our attention and even though we didn't really want him to speak because we had practically made up our minds, he went ahead to quote a copied strategy which he even found difficult to interpret.

He also had a clown, his name was "Mockery the clown" whose job was to annoy those who didn't support his boss. Throughout this whole time mockery didn't let the first man be. He was such nuisance that we had to bundle and tie him up and dumped him in the plane's toilet.

The third man who didn't particularly have any strategy decided to induce the passengers by bribing them with wads of dollar bills. Some really hungry ones collected the money and decided to support him, they were only a few though, an insignificant number.

The second man continued his entitled demand of reiterating that it was his turn. At this point, his friends who were also crooks like him decided not to tell the passengers why their man was in the best position to fly the plane, they focused on trying to ridicule the first man.

The first man however didn't let any of their moves affect him as he focused on educating the passengers on why he was the best, he even went from seat to seat to engage everyone. He didn't discriminate. In a short while, it became apparent to all of us that he was the favourite.

Meanwhile, Mockery the clown, still tied up in the plane's toilet where we bundled him, he has been talking to himself, but he thinks people are actually listening.

Well, what else would you expect from a clown if not make a jest of himself?

If you were in this plane with us, who would you choose amongst the three men?

First man
Second man
Third man