I was on a humanitarian mission inside a National Airlines B747-400BCF delivering medical cargo aids. I flew from Frankfurt Hahn to Islamabad, Pakistan and over the Himalayas to Kathmandu, Nepal. The flight originated from the USA carrying nearly 80 tons of USAid destined for Pakistan and Nepal.
Our B747 landing into Kathmandu was a thriller! After passing through the last clouds, the entire Kathmandu valley came into sight. Our descend was much steeper than the usual 3 degrees glideslope and require all the breaks to come to a full stop at the end of the runway in Kathmandu due to high altitude.
What a great privilege to be part of the team to send these much-needed supplies around the world and document behind the scenes of such a mission! I felt like “an airplane man” stayed inside the B747 for 40 hours from dark to light to dark again! That’s just 2 days in the shoes of charter cargo crew life! Certainly very different to the passenger airlines.
