Back In The Air Tomorrow!

Well, I am enjoying a nice evening on the patio tonight at the Velvet Lounge in The Baron.

Some of the other residents are playing a game of Euchre at the next table down.

It's a mild evening here in Kabul.  9 PM and +23 C.  The rain on and off for most of the day kept things pretty cool and nice and refreshed.

Construction continues as the signs of progress are moving forward.   We've officially lost our soccer field due to a new parking lot being built.  Another sign that the compound is overwhelmed with the new additions.

With the Eid long weekend drawing to a close, we will be back to flying tomorrow.  I've been waiting for this day now since we were grounded a week ago.  There's not much to do here, except watch movies on TV and hang out with a few of the people that I have met on the way.

It will be very nice to be back in the air tomorrow.  Hopefully my upset stomach begins to cooperate.  I've been a little under the weather since Saturday morning, but seem to be getting better.

As the time draws on here, some friction has been developing between some members of the crew, but hopefully this will work itself out.  I have a feeling its a combination of being away from home, and in the extreme heat over here that we have been working with lately.

I am trying to stay out of these things, and be as civil as I can, which is a good idea.  Like it or not, we're the crew here and we have to work together to make things run smoothly.  My only hope is that things don't get worse as the rotation begins to wear on, and people start getting anxious to go home.  Having rotational type experience before, I know that this can often be the case.  So we have to mitigate it as much as possible.

A special thanks to my friend from the front office of the ship for making up brand new charts for us to use.  The navigational chart coverage in this area of the world is not the greatest.  Much like Northern Manitoba and some parts of Northern Canada, many of the airports do not have published approach procedures.  In these instances we make up visual procedures based on the local knowledge that we have accumulated over our time here.  This information is presented to the new crews in something we call "Jungle Jepps" which is sort of a play on words from our Jeppesen Approach Plates for those places with facilities available.

The new plates look great though because he is a graphic designer and has done a really good job!!!

That's about all for now..

We will see what happens tomorrow.