Dave's Not Here: Always trust a Russian Pilot: Or, How I arrived in Dubai today.

Leaving Iraq is always a bit of a hair-raising experience. Not that any contractor I know here would admit that to you. In fact, it's a bit remarkable that I am admitting that here in this record for your review.

Whether the problems are with the risk of abduction from the Baghdad International Airport*, or the risk of being shot (or worse) while waiting for your plane, the fact of the matter is that there is always more danger there than anywhere else that we might happen to be during the transition process in and out of country.

Don't get me wrong. Baghdad International Airport has come a long way, and photos that I posted here over three years ago would not be possible today due to the throngs of passengers coming and going. While the facility is small, it remains a very busy hub for enterprising Iraqis and foreigners interested in jump-starting the Iraqi economy despite the insurgency.

Processing through is the part of your flight experience, which you inevitably come to expect will be the most potentially stressful part of the trip out of theater. Of course fate may decide to insert something a bit more interesting for you to ponder on the way home.

Always trust a Russian pilot. I have come to know and believe this maxim well in my numerous flights in and out of Iraq. The vast majority of pilots who fly the charters we take happen to be or Russian or Eastern European descent, and while not necessarily the same stock, based on their age it can only be assumed that most of them were trained by the Soviet Air Force or Aeroflot.

Today was a wonderful case in point. We were on final approach to Dubai International Airport, and perhaps 100 feet off the ground, drifting downward to the runway when the pilot aborted the landing. He flew a weaving pattern over the airport as though trying to assert his control over the airplane and through no small amount of skill managed to get us back up in the air and making a new approach.

Some might think that the aborted landing was no big deal. I've been on planes when the pilot aborted before, but this was different. The plane obviously had a problem. The entire time we were passing over the airport the pilot was weaving the plane back and forth as though the controls were stiff or stuck.

I was quite concerned that the mortar that missed me the night before would get a second chance in the form of an aircraft not being able to safely land.

Approximately 20 minutes later, after the pilot flew a figure eight pattern over the city we were back on approach, landing on a different runway. I’m still not sure what happened, but the pilot was being debriefed by Airport Security, Safety, and the Police when I de-planed.

*Apparently this has become a problem lately as Airport Security mentioned it in the arrival brief we receive when we pass through.

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Comments

Glad to hear that you made it out and into Dubai safe and enjoy your R&R.

When you have flown into Russian airports you know why the pilots they trained are as good as they are. I too trust Russian pilots and Russian planes. Their cars and sausages really suck though.