It's surprising there aren't more incidents here. It's a testament to the skill of the pilots here. The airport is a pretty crazy place. The runway is just over a quarter-mile long and rises about 60 meters to help planes decelerate on landing and accelerate on takeoff. It also does a U-turn at the end. Here's a picture of a helicopter landing.
The lodge I slept in is just to the left off-camera, so I could see the runway from my window. I hung around for a couple hours yesterday afternoon trying to get pictures of planes landing and taking off, but there were none. You can see other tourists lined up by the fence taking photos and locals waiting to score gigs as porters for incoming tourists.
By the time I arrived the airport was running normally. Most flights go in and out in the morning, because pilots have to fly by sight and can't land or take off when the clouds roll in. It's completely chaotic but fantastically efficient at the same time. Planes don't sit on the runway for more than 15 minutes while they're unloaded and reloaded.
Though it was what everyone was talking about there was little sign of the tragedy. In fact, while I was sitting there a group of Nepalese kids walked by, dressed up and with pink paint on their foreheads for a local festival. The little girl in the middle is one of the most beautiful children I've ever seen, but you can't really tell here because she's too busy sticking her tongue out at me.
Oh, and the name of my airline was Yeti Airlines. I saved both the boarding pass and the barf bag for my scrapbook.
Posts
