canuckpilot

It rained for most of the week last week. Mostly just some light rains during the evenings, but one night there was a major thunderstorm that lit the sky and sounded like a bomb going off! (New meaning to that phrase when you speak it in a war-torn country). When the spring rains come to Calgary, it cleans our streets, brightens our cars, and open our olfactory senses. Kabul turns into a mudhole. The mud that slickens the city streets of Kabul is of the perfect consistency to drive any five-year old into an addict's overdose seizure. Usually of a greyish-brown soft dust, the streets (being not of the 'civilized' world of crowned roads that sluice our dirty waters underground) soak themselves into miles of mud-pie-making mania. How joyous for the young boys and girls of ... read more

Any attempt to describe the circumstances that envelope this country without making a political comment is futile. This is a country that has been brutalized from forces from inside and from outside of it's borders. The election, for the most part, is an attempt to show that world that Afghanistan has the ability to decide it's own destiny. However, like many countries (and one could make the argument towards all countries), the want of power and the path to achieving it is paved with corruption, influence, and deceit. The list of election problems here seems endless: ballot boxes going missing for hours, womens' voting stations closed, thousands of people (more than 10,000 in one case) bussed outside of their own district to buoy candidates in another district, ballot stuffing (indicated by 60 to 70% turnout in ... read more

It's a life of excitement here in Kabul during the National Election. The UN had decided to 'shut-down' things until any (shall we say?) activities have calmed down and the streets are safe enough to drive our armoured Toyoto Landcruiser to the airport. Thus, I sit in my hotel room, staring at the antenna spikes of TV Hill and counting the hours until I can go downstairs and have some dinner. Monday was the last day of campaigning, although the ballots were not to be cast until Thursday. I expect this is designed to ensure plenty of time be available for vote tampering, intimidation, and general nonsense. For example, the Independent Election Commission has limited funds and has no contingency available to facilitate a recall election. (A recall election is constitutionally required if any one of ... read more

It is difficult to say that there is a typical day of flying here in Afghanistan. But it is not as though it is absolute chaos, either. On Thursday, Luc and I were to fly to four places: first Bamyan, then Herat, then Kanadahar, and back to Kabul. However, things being the way there are here, our routing was destined to change. Remember, we fly passengers for the UN. The first stop was to be a quick little hop over the mountains into thin valley oasis of Bamyan. Eight passengers...forty five minute flight. Instead (due to a departure delay and other circumstances), we flew to Herat, to Kandahar, then to Bamyan. Those eight passengers were granted a four hour tour over the desert mountains of western Afghanistan instead of their initial hilltop hop. Nevertheless, they are ... read more

Yesterday was a long day for us. We started before 9:00 and it didn't end until after 6:00. That's a normal North American day, but here the heat slowly presses it way into your skin to attach itself to your bones. Our routing took us to Kunduz, to Faizabad, back to Kabul, to Mazar-e-Sharif, and finally home to Kabul. A simple couple of loops that would be no problem...barely an effort...around Alberta. But by the time we reached the 39 degree black-top of Mazar, I was close to done in. Like the cold that makes you feel you will never get warm again. (Did I tell you that last year I was working in Iqaluit at minus 39 degrees? Such extremity of adventure.) And speaking of Mazar....the information given to pilots states "Non-paved areas are heavily ... read more

The flights over were not much fun. Two 7 hours 'red-eyes' from Calgary to London (Heathrow) and then to Dubai. The layover in London was long enough for me to spend a tourist day from Hyde Park, past Buckingham Palace, through Victoria Station, along the Thames to the London Eye (their gargantuous ferris wheel), up to Trafalgar Square, into the National Art Museum, and down into the Tube back to Heathrow. If you haven't been lately, there is a thread of terrorist-driven paranoia that surrounds their famous landmarks and locations. The Houses of Parliament (Big Ben) have thick metal car barriers from which black, flak-jacketed police stare are you.....guns loaded and suspicious. A set of stairs from a bridgeway is clad in a heavy, black metal screen that allows you to peer through as if you ... read more

Hello...Welcome to my blog about my next few weeks of living and flying in Afghanistan. For those that don't know, I am working for a company (Regional 1 Airlines) that has been contracted by the the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) which is providing logistical support for the UN World Food Programme. We, as well as other operators, fly a scheduled route from Kabul to a variety of cities, towns, and villages throughout Afghanistan. Currently, we are flying to: - Kandahar - Herat - Bamyan - Mazar-e-Sharif - Konduz - Faizabad - Jalalabad, and - Kabul (of course). As well, we fly to Islamabad, Pakistan from time to time. The operation is conducted on a 'cost-recovery' method. Thus, all of our passengers book and pay for their flights to the various locations. We do not ... read more