Mid November 2007

The intensity of the work continues. As I mentioned in my last blog, we had a VIP practice flight to Kabul last Sunday. After getting all the flight planning, fueling, overflight clearances, catering, and numbers of people set, we were off to Kabul in force (53).

I flew the left seat on the way up with C as a F/O. We did have some FMS problems on the way up, but nothing that couldn’t be handled. Basically Honeywell forgot to include airways and intersections on their download to our FMS. Who needs airways? At least we had approaches, SIDs and STARS.

There were probably 300-400 people to meet the aircraft on arrival into Kabul and all wanted to tour the aircraft. Unfortunately, we didn’t have extra stairs for the back, so we just had them make a complete circuit from the front door to the back and up the other aisle. The only other thing I can remember was that there were pictures, pictures, and more pictures. I think everyone there wanted a picture with someone in a Safi uniform.

There were numerous vans and private cars to take us to “downtown” to the Safi Hotel. The accommodations were as before, but it is very evident winter is approaching as fountains are covered and the nighttime temperatures drop to around 3 degrees centigrade.

The Safi’s put on a large buffet dinner for the crews, family and friends in the hotel. A & myself were at the head table with the Elder Safi, and his oldest son. A very strong point must be made here that I met about seven sons (two different mothers) and one daughter wearing a burka. Each one of these kids, fifteen to forty, was extremely well mannered and spoke excellent English. They all showed their sense of humor when they invited me to the rooftop to smoke the hubblie-bubblies. It was an honor to be asked, but I decided to pass!

I will have to mention that the car A, I, and K were to take to the airport was ready to leave on time and started backing up to only hear a loud crunch! Obviously WE hit a car coming out of the alley. The armed guards were there immediately for numerous reasons, and they did the talking. Not understanding Afghan, I presume the conversation went somehow “how could you get in the way of a SAFI car?” I think he was “asked” to drive his car away or they would shoot the tires out. Not once did they exchange insurance papers! Godfather comes to mind.

The next day Safi Airways had erected a large tent at the airport for the purpose of having all the VIPs. President Karzi was invited but his VP showed up. The entire tent, three hundred feet walking to it, and about two hundred feet to the aircraft was covered by oriental rugs. There will be pictures sent out and if you want a copy, please leave your email address on the comments section of the blog.

We started flying early the next week on a three-day schedule with a 0500 departure from Sharjah to Kabul, and returning to Sharjah about 1400. The flying is very pleasant and interesting, and daytime VFR only is not too bad.

The approach into Kabul is actually difficult. The Glide Slope is 3.5 degrees starting in the mountains. Even thought we’re sixteen miles or so from the airport, you must have flaps 20 and 160 knots at initial or you will not get down. So far everyone has made it in on their first attempt. I was asked to fly at least two flights with each pilot going in, so flight time is no longer a problem.

The Rs arrived about 2300 on Monday or Tuesday with me leaving for Kabul with a 0300 pickup that morning. We stayed up to talk for a while and then decided I needed to get to bed. I returned back to the apartment around 1430 only to find A and the Rs still in bed. I guess they were making up for the sleep I lost!

The first night we had dinner in Sharjah on a dhow on the water at a Lebanese Restaurant. The food was excellent and very inexpensive. They were even exposed to hummus. Since we had had happy hour while they met all the pilots, we used our best taxi driver, Muhammad. He dropped us off at 2030 and picked us up at 2230. Always on time!

All the touring will probably be covered on A’s blog, but some of the events of this fast week come out of the blur.

One of the first events I can remember is driving with A and the Rs to City Center Mall. Of course someone in the back wanted the air conditioner changed. New thirty-day car had arrived, so I had to look down to change it. And you guessed it, right into the back of a Toyota Camry! Of course I hit an Arab and they “never” have accidents, only expats. We now had two choices. One was to call 999 (same as 911 in the states) or the other was to drive to the police station and report the accident. We both agreed to drive to the police station for the report. Arriving at the police station, we walked in and were assigned an officer IMMEDIATELY. It took him about two minutes to assess the damage. I agreed I hit him and the report was written up in about five minutes. I received a one hundred dirham fine ($27.00) for hitting him from behind and the police time required. I then walked away! Since I had the full insurance from Avis, everything will be taken care of. In Dubai and Sharjah, INSURANCE IS GOOD!

Thursday night in the desert also comes to mind. The ticket price included transportation in an SUV (Land Cruiser) to the desert and back. Once again the traffic was bad, so the driver was late picking us up in Sharjah. We immediately knew why there were seat belts in the car as he reached speeds of up to 160 klicks trying to get back on schedule. If that wasn’t bad enough, we missed a traffic circle turn and headed out the wrong spoke. As all normal drivers would do, he made a U turn on a major highway and drove against and through the traffic to again drive into the intersection and then proceed on course. The only thing I knew is that it would be a quick demise.

Once we reached the desert area, we found we were with approximately ten other SUVs for the Dune riding portion of the tour. We played follow the leader at speeds up to fifty klicks on top of the dunes and almost rolling over (intentionally) numerous times. Very much like a roller coaster!

Dinner and a belly dancer were back at the main camp with the surprising thing—being able to get a rum and coke! The food was excellent for this type of event, which surprised all of us. I will definitely go back again (with a different driver)!

A separate note must be made at this time, “do you know which mother got a tattoo in the desert?”

Another event which comes to mind is the Ice Bar. This is in the Dubai section and this mall is called Times Square. After you pay the admission price, you are given a winter jacket, hood, and boots if you don’t have socks. The interior of the bar is kept at minus three degrees Fahrenheit at all times. The entire forty meters square is made out of ice shipped from Canada for its clarity. All the tables, bars, glasses, and food plates are made of ice. Three of us had hot chocolates and N ordered juice. His juice soon turned to a slushy in the ice glass and room temperature. Good music, so dancing was the preferred warm up method.

Another memorable event was on Friday when I presented N with his Afghanistan Visa and a business class ticket to Kabul for the Saturday rotation. Awakening at 0200 for a 0300 pickup, we noticed a little fog outside. This was the second day in a row so we thought it would burn off quickly.

Arriving at the airport we did find a few items out. The airport closed last night at 2300 and wasn’t expected to open untill later this morning (where was our station manager). We did learn a few things about the airport: (1) it has lost it’s Cat II and III certification due to construction; (2) fueling and catering cannot take place during low visibility operations; (3) we need to start parking over a fuel hydrant. We also learned that N and I were not going to make it to Afghanistan that day as we had to call out a reserve crew. The rest is a story for the lake (whichever). At least he got the Visa.

I will be in Atlanta for Thanksgiving, more on the Dubai Air Show next blog. Happy Thanksgiving!

AFGHANISTAN ADVENTURE

11/9/07, AGHANISTAN ADVENTURE FROM THE FEMALE SIDE: Last Sunday Safi Airways had its inaugural flight to Afghanistan. This was basically supposed to be a fam flight and an opportunity for the crew members to update their visas. However, it turned into quite an extravaganza in Kabul. The operations officer’s wife and I were invited to tag along, as well as about 25 members of the very prolific Safi family. From the pilot side, I will let Bob fill in all the trials and tribulations of making this flight happen, which were numerous.

We started the day by taking a one-and-a-half-hour bus trip across the desert to Fujairah, on the other side of the UAE, where the plane had been parked for the last month. Some of the scenery could have been from the American West. Overall it was pretty desolate until we got close to Fujairah.

Bob was captain for the trip up, which always makes me feel better. He hasn’t lost the magic touch. The entire cabin applauded both when we got in the air and when we safely landed in Kabul.

We flew a route over Iran and Afghanistan. From what I could see from the air, I don’t know why anyone would want to live anywhere we flew over. I’ve never seen such desolate, barren countryside.

Kabul was quite an experience. When we landed and taxied in, there was a huge group there to meet the plane; TV cameras, flags, Imam, and everything. The elder Safi was the first one to greet and congratulate the crew. By the time we left the airport for the hotel, it was too dark to see a lot, but we saw more on the way back to the airport the next day. I don’t think you can get much more third world than Kabul. It’s still a military zone, and we could not leave the hotel. You see tanks, bikes, and all sorts of transportation, mules in the streets; lots of beggars, children and adults.

The hotel is the only “5 star” in Kabul and has a shopping center as part of the structure. That’s a bit of a stretch, but the rooms were fine. Mr. Safi held a big dinner for the crew and VIPs, and then some of the many “Safi kids” invited the pilots to go up on the rooftop to smoke from the sort of hubblee-bubblee pipes. I call it a “peace pipe.” These do not have drugs in them, and I honestly don’t know if they can be used as vehicles for some sort of drugs or not. They’re really neat looking, though.

The next day, upon an adventuresome and, I’m glad to say, safe ride to the airport, there was another big ceremony. They had a very large, colorful tent set up with about 500 chairs. This time the UN, some various country delegates, press, Afghan government officials, lots of Safi family, and crew were present. Since the crew had to be there early to do preflight, I ended up talking to a very nice Australian, an Afghan military officer, and a couple of Afghan Safi execs under a tree at the airport, watching the caterers set up for the reception under the tent while numerous Afghan and UN military officials were “hanging out.“ I never thought I’d be doing anything like that. Hamad Karzi was supposed to be there but was apparently attending that meeting in the north that was bombed. Unfortunately our Afghan is a little weak, so we couldn’t understand a thing anyone said during the ceremony.

The flight back was filled with numerous procedural quirks, as is not surprising in a third-world war zone. Bob had designated someone else to be captain, but it’s a good thing he was in the cockpit monitoring because there were apparently a lot of deviations to the original flight plan.
I will say there was one time I did not feel real safe. Generally when people are ready to transfer from the hotel, they don’t just hang out on the streets. They get in the car/van and go quickly. For some reason, there was a problem, and we ended up being stuck in the van in front of the hotel for about 20 minutes. We noticed a man just sitting in a van across the street watching most of the time we were there, and it made me very uncomfortable. We were very glad to get moving finally.

All in all, it was just a very moving and memorable experience, and I’m very glad I went. I’m also glad I don’t have to stay there. If I’m lucky I will be able to include one or two pictures here. We’ll see what happens.

As a side note, we have had a lot of Internet connection problems lately, so I apologize for the lack of communication.

Alice

Initial Woman's View

11/3/07 FIRST MOM BLOG: So much has happened so quickly, it’s hard to know where to begin. First of all, for all of you asking about the venerable Clifford, the kids have taken over his retirement care. He is now in Raleigh with G., where he celebrated Halloween, and it is my understanding PWDT is picking him up to go to J and M’s this weekend. We are very pleased and grateful they are willing to take him over. It was difficult to say goodbye to him, but I’m betting we’ll see him over the holidays sometime.




Our apartment is in “suburban” Sharjah, which is the next emirate up from Dubai. It’s really like one continuous area. When there’s no traffic, which is almost never, we’re only about 20 minutes away from downtown Dubai and 10 minutes from downtown Sharjah. Sharjah has a beautiful downtown. It’s much more conservative, which means among other things it’s dry, and you see very few westerners here. I was brave and took a taxi into Sharjah to get my nails done today and had a real jerk of an Iranian cab driver who didn’t know where anything was. However, I found a good salon in more or less the high-end area of Sharjah and the day ended well. We had dinner on a dhow, little old boats, on the lake the other night in Sharjah, which was enjoyable.

They have gold and textile and spice souks, bazaars, here that are actually nicer, less crowded, and less expensive than Dubai, but the old souks in Dubai are still something to see.

Dubai, if course, is beautiful. Every building tries to outdo the previous one. They are building the Burj Dubai to be the tallest building in the world, and if someone builds a taller building, they have designed this one so it can be added onto. I did manage to get on one of those city and beach bus tours, which gave me a great overview of the city.

Shopping seems to be the national sport here. There are large malls everywhere, and some of them are absolutely gorgeous. The bad news is traffic on “weekends,“ which are Thursday and Friday, is like Christmas in the U.S. every weekend . We went to the Festival Mall yesterday, which is built on Dubai Creek with a canal running through it. It was kind of like being on Rodeo Drive. Haven’t been to Emirates Mall yet where they have the indoor snow skiing.

As for our apartment, it’s an adjustment. The area is full of construction, and again we are among the very few westerners. It’s not exactly the high-rent district, but it seems to be safe, and the apartment is new. I’m pretty uncomfortable taking a power walk around the neighborhood in shorts, as there are very few women out during the day and none in athletic gear. I’ll get it figured out, though. It’s pretty much a live and let live attitude around here, so I’ve just got to get over being uncomfortable.

The apartment itself is smaller than our first apartment when we got married, so we’re learning to “share” space all over again. It’s nice enough, but I could live without the gas container for the stove, for which you have to match-light the burners and the oven, in the middle of the kitchen. There’s no dishwasher, a tiny sink, and no clothes dryer. Aside from that, it’s great! The clothes dryer is the rack on the balcony.

All of the pilots are here, so the situation very much reminds me of our old Navy days. The apartments may be small, but we do more entertaining now than we’ve done for a long time.

Bob has been working very hard, and I personally think the airline is still looking for its direction, but they all have very handsome new uniforms, and the first flight, which will be a fam flight for all the pilots and flight attendants, is tomorrow to Kabul. I have been invited to join the group, so still more adventure! It should be interesting, and I understand this could be a good place to purchase oriental rugs. I will follow this up with the female impression of Kabul when we get back. Now I have to go pack.

We miss all of our family and friends and look forward to seeing everyone when we get back hopefully sometime over the holidays. I know we will appreciate Marietta, the lake, and the beach much more.

More to follow after Kabul.

Pre-Kabul, Early November

110307 This has been a very busy week! The decision came down from above on Monday approving our practice flight with all the Flight Attendants, Management, and some VIPs going to Kabul. We will spend one night at the Safi Landmark Hotel in Kabul City Center and return to Sharjah the following afternoon.

So of course this meant that everyone was going to “general quarters.” Flying over here is definitely not the same as flying for a major in the United States. From my end it meant getting the overflight permission from Iran, getting Boeing to facilitate our AFMs (Aircraft Flight Manual), flight planning, fuel planning, getting the pilots back into the books, uniforms, and SECURITY!

The original intent was to never have the plane RON in Kabul, but everyone knows plans are always in flux. In Bogota, the plane was always safe with just the security tabs placed on all the openings. In Kabul, anyone who wishes to enter the aircraft after shutdown could just open a door and walk in. Of course that would be preferable to blowing a hole in the side or underneath and walking through it. So, the bottom line is we are still sticking with tabs but also “numerous” armed guards for the entire stay.

Our custom tailored uniforms were to be delivered on the 8th of November, but the powers that be weren’t thinking of that. So, we had to quickly re-schedule our final fit and I believe pay a premium to get them five days early. They actually arrived at 1530 the afternoon prior to the test flight. The fit was actually pretty good. I did require more material than in my Navy days. While I was thinking,” wow, they arrived,” I decided to inventory the suit bags. I was surprised to find the epaulets were missing. After a couple quick calls, it turned out that the Duty Driver had left them in the back of the van and was back in Dubai. Just another trip back to Sharjah for him to deliver them back to my room! The president of the airline wanted us to have silver strips as opposed to the traditional gold, so now we need a belt to match---so many problems!

As I mentioned earlier, we will be taking a few VIPs on the RON to Kabul. One of the VIPs will be A. She received her expedited Afghan Visa on Thursday and is now ready and eager for the next thirty days. She has even started doing research for possible rug purchases in Afghanistan! No time wasted for this woman in this part of the world! One can only guess who she will have carry it for her?

While she has been transitioning to the time zone over here, she has been able to visit Deira City Center Mall, Festival City Mall, Sahara Mall, Safeer Mall, Wafi City Mall, and the Sharjah City Gold Souk. Together we will explore the Emerates Mall for the Rs arriving around the 11th of November. So many malls, so little time.

This will be sent out when we arrive in Kabul and are at the hotel. Next week we will cover the first Safi Trip with Flight Attendants and VIPs. This is the whole reason we’re over here and we do find it exciting!