Ariana flight 102 to Kabul.
P.K.Ghatak, MD
No.8.
Ariana, the Afghan National Airlines, flight no.102 left Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris on time but only with three passengers on board; two were in the economy class and one in the first-class cabin. The first stop was at Moscow airport. The plane landed an hour before midnight and taxied to the gate. This was the time when the Soviet Union had disintegrated. Russia and several other Republic States emerged and were struggling to survive financially and from the breakdown of the law and order situation. Russians were bewildered and appeared incapable of governing themselves.
The aircraft came to a dead stop at the gate but only for a short moment. Then the aircraft moved as if it were to depart. Then a sudden jolt and a screeching sound came from the front end of the plane then it stopped abruptly. About half an hour passed without any activities. Then the crew members were going in and out in a hurry to the first-class section of the plane. The noise of people arguing was heard. Someone began to hammer the plane with a heavy hammer with loud bangs. And with each bang, the plane shook. Then an agitated, red-faced, very well dressed gentleman began to chase the captain of the aircraft as he tried to flee from him. The gentleman was shouting at the captain and whatever the captain replied made the gentleman angrier. Fifteen minutes later several armed Russian security officers boarded the plane and escorted the agitated first-class passenger to his seat.
After all the noise and excitement subsided the plane remained standing at the departure gate. The lights of the plane were turned off; the outside was pitch dark except a few runway marker lights were on. It gave an eerie sensation as if a blackout was ordered to foil a bombing run by enemy aircraft.
After three hours the lights came on again in the aircraft. Then a flood of passengers began to board the plane. Each passenger carried as many pieces of luggage as they could on their shoulders, hands and even on their heads. No one knew or cared about the international regulations limiting the numbers and size of carry-on bags. The crewmembers stood silently; only directed the crowd towards the rear of the aircraft. Soon the plane took off. Three hours later it touched down at the Tashkent airport in Uzbekistan. Then another group of passengers filled the aircraft with more luggage pieces, one of them even carried a kitchen cabinet. The passengers dropped their luggage into every available space inside. The plane looked more like an overcrowded bus in a rural area of a poor country. There was no room for anyone to get up and move; even the toilets were packed with luggage.
In the morning the plane made an uneventful landing in Kabul. Then pandemonium broke out among the passengers in order to deplane with their load of luggage. The person behind was more impatient than the passenger in front; pushing, pulling and shouting went on till the last passenger deplaned.
The next morning, one of the two passengers who boarded flight 102 in economy class at Paris was eating breakfast alone. The other members of his group had left for work earlier. He heard a loud noise coming from the outer perimeter of the walled compound. Someone was banging on the metal door. He thought he was still thinking about the incident at the Moscow airport. When it became clear to him that someone was desperate to come in. The security guard was not present at the gate. He went to the gate and looked through a peephole of the closed gate. He was surprised to see the same 1st class passenger who was chasing the captain of flight 102, standing outside. As he opened the gate for him, and the visitor immediately began speaking in French. The man said he did not understand French. Then the visitor spoke in English and introduced him as the French diplomat and said he came to inquire about his fellow countrymen in Kabul.
“I recognized you; you were a passenger on flight 102”, the man said.
The diplomat replied, “Do you know what had happened at the Moscow airport”.
“Come in and have a cup of tea with me and then tell me all about it”, he said.
As they were walking back to the dining room the diplomat pointed out a different building and said, “That was the residence of the French ambassador, that one was the embassy building, and this one was staff quarters. The rose garden is still here but it was magnificent then”.
After they entered the dining room. The diplomat helped himself to bread, jam, and tea and began his story:
I was asleep, a jolt and noise woke me up. The plane had docked to the exit ramp, but the wheels of the aircraft were not secured by placing wedge blocks. The plane moved and the exit door panel hit the wall of the ramp, and it was damaged. The door could not be closed or locked. The captain of the plane and the ground crew decided to repair the damaged door as best they could and tie the door to a frame with a rope. And to make sure that it would not fly open during flight, a crew member would hold on to the latch of the door. In that condition, the plane was going to take off. Can you imagine an airplane is taking off with its main door secured with a simple rope and a man hanging on to it!!
" I said no way,” he continued. “You got to replace the door; an airplane should not fly if structurally unsafe. There is a good chance that the door will fly off in midair due to differential pressure."
The captain said, “A replacement door has to be flown in from Paris. There is no way that can be done tonight. The Russian has no spare door that will fit our plane. We have to leave Moscow tonight. We have to do as best we can under the circumstance”.
I insisted without proper repair, the plane should not fly; it was against the international aviation treaty; such acts would be considered criminal negligence. The discussion became more heated, and the captain threatened to drop me off the plane. Then I flashed my diplomatic passport at his face. Then the captain ran away from me. I began chasing him and more arguments followed.
They started hammering the bent door to straighten it. I went after the repair crew. They called in the Russian security. It went on for a while. Finally, the repair crew was able to repair the door enough to open and close but the lock was totally broken. They went back again with the idea of tying the door with a rope.
At this stage the Airport security offered me a room in a Moscow hotel for the night; in the morning I could arrange my way to Kabul by other airlines. But Ariana was the only airline serving Kabul, that too was only 2 days a week.
Ariana, the Afghan National Airlines, flight no.102 left Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris on time but only with three passengers on board; two were in the economy class and one in the first-class cabin. The first stop was at Moscow airport. The plane landed an hour before midnight and taxied to the gate. This was the time when the Soviet Union had disintegrated. Russia and several other Republic States emerged and were struggling to survive financially and from the breakdown of the law and order situation. Russians were bewildered and appeared incapable of governing themselves.
The aircraft came to a dead stop at the gate but only for a short moment. Then the aircraft moved as if it were to depart. Then a sudden jolt and a screeching sound came from the front end of the plane then it stopped abruptly. About half an hour passed without any activities. Then the crew members were going in and out in a hurry to the first-class section of the plane. The noise of people arguing was heard. Someone began to hammer the plane with a heavy hammer with loud bangs. And with each bang, the plane shook. Then an agitated, red-faced, very well dressed gentleman began to chase the captain of the aircraft as he tried to flee from him. The gentleman was shouting at the captain and whatever the captain replied made the gentleman angrier. Fifteen minutes later several armed Russian security officers boarded the plane and escorted the agitated first-class passenger to his seat.
After all the noise and excitement subsided the plane remained standing at the departure gate. The lights of the plane were turned off; the outside was pitch dark except a few runway marker lights were on. It gave an eerie sensation as if a blackout was ordered to foil a bombing run by enemy aircraft.
After three hours the lights came on again in the aircraft. Then a flood of passengers began to board the plane. Each passenger carried as many pieces of luggage as they could on their shoulders, hands and even on their heads. No one knew or cared about the international regulations limiting the numbers and size of carry-on bags. The crewmembers stood silently; only directed the crowd towards the rear of the aircraft. Soon the plane took off. Three hours later it touched down at the Tashkent airport in Uzbekistan. Then another group of passengers filled the aircraft with more luggage pieces, one of them even carried a kitchen cabinet. The passengers dropped their luggage into every available space inside. The plane looked more like an overcrowded bus in a rural area of a poor country. There was no room for anyone to get up and move; even the toilets were packed with luggage.
In the morning the plane made an uneventful landing in Kabul. Then pandemonium broke out among the passengers in order to deplane with their load of luggage. The person behind was more impatient than the passenger in front; pushing, pulling and shouting went on till the last passenger deplaned.
The next morning, one of the two passengers who boarded flight 102 in economy class at Paris was eating breakfast alone. The other members of his group had left for work earlier. He heard a loud noise coming from the outer perimeter of the walled compound. Someone was banging on the metal door. He thought he was still thinking about the incident at the Moscow airport. When it became clear to him that someone was desperate to come in. The security guard was not present at the gate. He went to the gate and looked through a peephole of the closed gate. He was surprised to see the same 1st class passenger who was chasing the captain of flight 102, standing outside. As he opened the gate for him, and the visitor immediately began speaking in French. The man said he did not understand French. Then the visitor spoke in English and introduced him as the French diplomat and said he came to inquire about his fellow countrymen in Kabul.
“I recognized you; you were a passenger on flight 102”, the man said.
The diplomat replied, “Do you know what had happened at the Moscow airport”.
“Come in and have a cup of tea with me and then tell me all about it”, he said.
As they were walking back to the dining room the diplomat pointed out a different building and said, “That was the residence of the French ambassador, that one was the embassy building, and this one was staff quarters. The rose garden is still here but it was magnificent then”.
After they entered the dining room. The diplomat helped himself to bread, jam, and tea and began his story:
I was asleep, a jolt and noise woke me up. The plane had docked to the exit ramp, but the wheels of the aircraft were not secured by placing wedge blocks. The plane moved and the exit door panel hit the wall of the ramp, and it was damaged. The door could not be closed or locked. The captain of the plane and the ground crew decided to repair the damaged door as best they could and tie the door to a frame with a rope. And to make sure that it would not fly open during flight, a crew member would hold on to the latch of the door. In that condition, the plane was going to take off. Can you imagine an airplane is taking off with its main door secured with a simple rope and a man hanging on to it!!
" I said no way,” he continued. “You got to replace the door; an airplane should not fly if structurally unsafe. There is a good chance that the door will fly off in midair due to differential pressure."
The captain said, “A replacement door has to be flown in from Paris. There is no way that can be done tonight. The Russian has no spare door that will fit our plane. We have to leave Moscow tonight. We have to do as best we can under the circumstance”.
I insisted without proper repair, the plane should not fly; it was against the international aviation treaty; such acts would be considered criminal negligence. The discussion became more heated, and the captain threatened to drop me off the plane. Then I flashed my diplomatic passport at his face. Then the captain ran away from me. I began chasing him and more arguments followed.
They started hammering the bent door to straighten it. I went after the repair crew. They called in the Russian security. It went on for a while. Finally, the repair crew was able to repair the door enough to open and close but the lock was totally broken. They went back again with the idea of tying the door with a rope.
At this stage the Airport security offered me a room in a Moscow hotel for the night; in the morning I could arrange my way to Kabul by other airlines. But Ariana was the only airline serving Kabul, that too was only 2 days a week.
“At the end, it came down to this;” the diplomat said and he continued “Take a chance and fly in this cripple aircraft and get blown away in midair or spend a night in a Moscow hotel and get murdered.
I choose the former. And I was right. I am still alive.”
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