3/17/08 VOICE FROM THE OTHER SIDE

I decided maybe it’s time to chime in again after laying low for two months. I ended up being back in the States for a month doing some extra PT for my shoulder and having a good time visiting friends and family. We do appreciate and miss everyone when we’re on the other side of the world, and we thank you all for your fun and kind comments to the blog.

As Bob said, our friend RD came back with me, and we had a great time showing him the sights and sounds of Dubai. I seem to be official tour guide during the day, since Bob is quite busy trying to keep Safi Airways straight. His job can be challenging and sometimes quite frustrating, but he has overall enjoyed the opportunity.

I took RD on the usual tours and tried to take him shopping in the souks, but he is a real loser when it comes to shopping! KD would have been much more fun in the souks. We did try out the indoor skiing at Emirates Mall, which was a very fun experience, although certainly not Colorado. We also tried sand boarding in the desert one evening, which was also lots of fun. RD also wanted to experience the Burj al Arab while he was here, so we had another lovely dining experience at this very over-the-top hotel, this time at their restaurant on the beach. We were sorry to see RD leave, but we heard KD needed him to shovel snow from the last blizzard they had in Indiana.

For the moment life is pretty quiet again until the next visitors, but at least we are enjoying going to the Aviation Club to work out and swim. The weather is very nice right now. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to get a cab to go down there, so often I stay in the apartment when Bob is flying, which can be very confining. Today I took the big plunge and drove myself into Dubai to the club. It was very stressful, but I survived the first plunge. This was a big step for me!

Wednesday is our 42nd anniversary, and we’ve decided to call it the “sand anniversary.” We’re going to a very upscale Arabian resort in the desert, where we will have, among other things, a one-hour camel ride and an Arabian feast under the stars. Hopefully we’re not too old to be able to enjoy the romance.

We hope all is well for each of you, and for our Atlanta family and friends, I hope the recent storms haven‘t done too much damage. I know for many of our Atlanta friends tennis season started, and we hope week one was a good one. I also know for some of you the important part of the NCAA season has started, and we wish your teams well, particularly UNC. And, of course, for GHD we wish you a happy outcome for the ice hockey season at Cornell.

And wherever the venerable Clifford is between Annapolis and D.C., please give him a hug from us.

ASD

Springtime

A and I went back to Atlanta at the end of January to keep our normal lives in order. We were able to see many of our friends and family. The highlight of the return was Clifford’s (our 16 year old Golden) birthday party. This can be seen on theturbevilles.com web site. I’d also like to thank everyone for the Blog comments. The Blog seems to be a very easy way to communicate with all of you rather than independent emails.

Another reason for going back was to complete my six month simulator check in Miami. I also interviewed pilots and gave simulator checks to the two that we wanted. Obviously this means we are in the hiring mode. While in Miami we announced that the airline had purchased two 737s for intra-country flights to feed the 767 out of Kabul. The 737s needed more maintenance than originally thought, so that has been put on hold. I have been pushing for 757s for the dual qualification. It now appears our next plane with be a 767-300. I will try to attach a recent announcement of the company’s plans.

Spring has arrived in Kabul. The temperature is starting to rise to about 20 degrees Celsius and the snow in the mountains is receding. It is like Kabul is coming out of a deep freeze. People are moving faster and traveling more. One flight last week we had over 213 people aboard. Speaking of coming out of the deep freeze, the true story about the generator and the ILS system has now come to light. It appears that “someone” had stolen gas out of the tank that was feeding the generator. So no one would notice the loss, the quantity in the tank was replaced by water. So when enough water is added to the gas, two things happen. The first is the pipes freeze. The second is that no one knew this till they unfroze and the generator couldn’t work because it needs gas. I will say that no one has heard from the people that “used” to work in that area. There is now an Afghanistan Military Guard around the ILS shack!

We have now moved into our new Offices in the Dubai Free Zone of the Airport. They have leased about 3500 square meters and they are looking for more office space. The offices have been very well fitted with first class materials and furnishings. At times, price seems to be no object.

Politics can be amazing over here. Sharjah now doesn’t like the thought that we service Dubai to Kabul rather than Sharjah to Kabul and has said we can only park the aircraft in Sharjah when we have a non-stop---which happens to be Thursdays. So, this has caused the aircraft to be moved from Sharjah, to Fujairah, to Ras Al Khaimah, to Al Ain. All this movement is chewing up the crews, but stability always returns.

We did go to Emirates Mall with our visitor RWD. The reason for the trip was to ski in Dubai. The indoor skiing is actually pretty good. They keep the interior at 25 degrees Fahrenheit at all times, so the snow never turns to ice. The runs themselves are I would say green slopes with one steeper than the other. Shadows do seem to create problems. I’m pleased to report no one wiped out.
As I mentioned earlier, we have joined the Aviation Club. This club controls all the tennis in the UAE, with about eight courts and the tennis stadium included. The current Barclay’s Tennis Tournament is ongoing with all the professional athletes more than happy to have their pictures taken with members. Everything revolves around this event and security is very heavy. Definitely nice to have a member’s card and parking space to be there. I’m flying with RWD to Kabul on Saturday, while A is trying to get tickets to the finals.
Returning from Kabul, A informed RWD and myself that the tickets for the finals were a done deal. So, after a three hour nap, we headed down to see Andy Roddick defeat Feleciano Lopez last night. It was quite a day for all. We ended with a nice French dinner at the stadium and a long night’s sleep.

I will end this Blog up with a little commercial. P&W gave J&M a “Slingbox” for Christmas. Yes, I know, what in the world is a “Slingbox?” This “little box” is now connected to J&M’s spare bedroom cable TV converter. “Slingbox” actually has its own web site and allows me, as a favored individual, to use J&M’s converter to access any channel they subscribe to. It in no way interferes with their other TVs. The only competition I will have is when someone stays in their guest bedroom. Once I have connected for about two minutes the voice streaming is almost perfect. If you leave the picture on the small mode, it is very usable. This was very handy as our own cable TV went out for about two days recently.