Day #5 - Scary flight to Lukla Part 3

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Tara Air Flight 113 sped down the runway, for what seemed a very long time, until the nose of the plane dipped upwards and then we were airborne. It didn’t take long to climb up into the sky and my nervousness dissipated as we put distance between us and Kathmandu airport. The view from my window seat was pretty impressive, especially as we travelled over the Kathmandu valley and could see the low clouds below. I caught glimpses of snow covered peaks out of the left hand side of the plane when those passengers were charitable enough to sit back for a few moments.

We levelled off after around 25 minutes into the flight and this brought spectacular views of the scenery ahead from the pilot’s cockpit windows. It was impressive seeing the distance hills approaching, but unnerving that we seemed to be heading straight for them. We must have flown through a gap in the hills which was perhaps only 500 meters wide and looking down to the ground below I could easily make out the details on the odd building below.

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