Yesterday was my last mission for this deployment. Unfortunately I couldn't share it with my crew; due to scheduling issues, a staff Nav didn't feel up to the 1215 a.m. alert/4 am takeoff! While I can't say I blame him, it meant that I had to swap crews for the last flight. My mission was an out and back to Peshawar, up in the northern reaches of western Pakistan, someplace I've never been before, so it was a pretty easy sell.
The crew consisted of Shawn Donahey, Aircraft commander, Charlie Baker, freshly minted co-pilot, Rich Reynolds, Flight Engineer, and Loadmasters Jim Ferrebee and Rich Signorelli. I have flown with all these guys back at the home station, but this was my first ride with them as a hard crew. They've been working hard the past four months, and you could tell they have bonded pretty strongly.
Our flight took us down the Persian Gulf, over the United Arab Emerites, and to the eastern side of Pakistan through Karachi, then up to Lahore, and then back west to Peshawar. I couldn't for the life of me, figure out why we went all the way over to Karachi, but each of these countries have their little idiosyncrasies, so it's not unusual to do things somewhat contrary to common sense. However, half-way up to Lahore, it became apparent the Air Traffic Controllers were having a difficult time understanding why we were flying the route we were on. There were numerous calls for identification and clarification and finally they just directed us to fly BACK across Pakistan to the western side of the country and then up to Peshawar. Luckily we had put on more gas than we normally do, and no problems complying with their every whim.
Peshawar has some mountains surrounding the city, but they are not like up in Afghanistan where your inclination sometimes is to descend in a spiral over the field in order to stay comfortably away from the high terrain. The area around the city is generally flat with lots of farm areas nearby. The city is highly populated and consists of multitudes of densely packed one-story housing units made out of brick and mortar. The thing that struck us most was the green grass and trees! Lots and lots of trees. What a refreshing sight!Our task was to pick up an Army three-star General, and transport him and four aides back to our base after their tour of Pakistani frontier forces and training. The plan was for him to show up shortly after we landed and refueled, climb aboard, and we would briskly whisk him back to our home station. That was not quite what happened. The guy was out on a tour with a Pakistani General, and according to the Lieutenant assigned to liaison with us, there was no telling when the two of them might show up.
So, we sat and waited, refueled, re-filed our flight plan with the approved diplomatically cleared routing home, watched a couple of civilian airliners come and go, ate from our box lunches and cooler, and speculated whether we would be going home anytime soon. At about the two hour mark, the sound of helicopter blades reached us from behind some trees, and a couple of armed helicopters dropped down beside us, discharging the Generals and their various entourages.After that, it was just a matter of them clearing customs and immigration and a long 5-hour ride back home, punctuated by a SATCOM message about an hour from landing announcing the successful arrival of most of our replacements! Seemed pretty certain that we would be done after this one.
Our landing field was obscured in blowing dust and thunderstorms upon our arrival, but Shawn flew a flawless approach to minimums, picking up the rabbit lights about a mile and a half from touchdown. With the screech of the tires touching down, the Loads, Flight Engineer and I all started clapping, celebrating the end of a long, but highly successful deployment! We've got four days of flying remaining till we're home with our family and loved ones, but it sure felt good at that moment to know we were done with our part of mission, at least for now.Next destination: Western Pennsylvania!
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