ransvestia

Well the trip to Kabul was dull but the arrival wasn't. Kabul is on a flat plain surrounded by modest mountains. The pilot came in for a landing, wheels down and all, and then when about 100 feet from the ground he suddenly gunned it and pulled up again. He circled around and tried it from the other end but gave that up even sooner and climbed up above the mountains and headed south. About this time he announced that the cross winds were too strong and that a landing wasn't possible at Kabul (pronounced "cobble" incidently) and that we were proceeding to Kandahar, about 200 miles away as the nearest alternative landing site.

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We arrived there in late afternoon to find a neat little airport sitting all by itself with no planes, cars, equipment or anything around it. Disembarking with only our flight bags as they didn't unload the baggage - we wandered through the airport building which was a very nice place with the usual booths, waiting rooms, gates, restrooms, etc. but absolutely empty of both people and equipment. It turned out that the place had been built in the late 50's and paid for by guess who you and me as American taxpayers when they were still flying prop planes which needed a refueling stop between Europe and India. But jets don't need to stop so the nice little airport just sits there waiting for emergency situations like ours. They managed to find beds for most of the passengers in what had been planned as the air- port hotel but which was now part of an army barracks and they called into town for someone to come out and put something together to feed us not just our group of 26 but the whole plane-load. Finally around 10 p.m. we got some bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, a little doubtful meat and warm cokes a really delightful repast but welcome never- theless since we hadn't eaten since noon. It was plenty hot and the walls of the one-story "hotel" were still radiating a lot of heat by mid- night, so I pioneered a movement of my bed out onto the ground in front and was soon followed by everyone else. There wasn't a cloud or a wisp of smog in a thousand miles and no city light glow so the stars were as brilliant as any I'd ever seen so that part of the experience was worth it.

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At 5 a.m. we were rousted out to dress and get back on the plane to return to Kabul. Since it is hot and high, the planes can only come in and out in the early morning or evening so we had to be there early to get off and get the plane serviced and reloaded for its take-off to the next destination. The line is Ariana Afghanistanian Airlines but it operates under contract by Pan Am so at least we knew that they knew what they were doing. Walking from the plane to the airport