Flying in Iraq
28 2100 AUG 06 - It sucks. Flying military air, that is. Basically, you are at the complete mercy of the whims of the pilots, weather, and whoever else is involved in the process.
Supposedly, you can get yourself on an AMR (aircraft manning roster) that guarantees you a seat. But, the reality is that your plane can still can cancelled for whatever reason and you have no recourse other than to try to fly stand-by on the next flight out - which may not be until the next day - at 4 in the morning.
You do have lots of options, however. Depending on where you want to try to fly to, you can possibly get a CH47, UH60, Sherpa, C-130 or maybe even a C-17. Well yeah, if they happen to be flying into your base and flying to your desired destination that day. Otherwise, you are out of luck.
The other not-so-cool thing about flying military air is you often are told to show up for a flight four hours before the plane is even due to arrive. Then, you are left sitting in a crowded room in uncomfortable chairs, staring at the rest of the slobs who are in there with you. Or, better yet, you are sitting out in the 115-degree heat under a thin sun shade praying for the damn plane to arrive. Then, after waiting several hours, some guy comes out and tells you that your plane got cancelled (again). Oops, time to start the whole process over again! Needless to say, it often takes two days to get anywhere you want to go in Iraq.
On the other hand, flying military air, especially UH-60s, allows you to see parts of Iraq you would never see otherwise. My base is a couple hundred miles from Baghdad, but I’ve gotten the chance to fly low over Baghdad on several occasions and see some of the sites. The windows are open on that particular helicopter and you can see it all - plus feel the heat from the flares they drop to ward off the heat-seeking missiles.
Category :
Tags :
Similar Posts:
Leave a Reply