AS THE WORLD TURNS

A few months ago a new Afghan owned airline started operating between Dubai and
Kabul. It is owned by arguably one of the wealthiest groups in Afghanistan, the Safi
Group. They are operating a B767-200ER. The first two months they were based in
Dubai and then had to switch to Kabul when the UAE would no longer let them base
their Afghanistan registered plane in the UAE. They had two American crews flying
the 767, but when the base changed from Dubai to Kabul the Americans wanted too
much money to live and fly out of Kabul, so they wound up going back to the USA
and now a South American crew is flying the Safi 767. They only have the one crew
right now, so they do not fly on Wednesdays and Saturdays. All the other days they
leave Kabul at 9am and fly a Dubai turn around.

The airline I am leased to in Kabul is Kam Air, and we currently fly a turn around
two times a week in the B737-200 from Kabul to Dubai also leaving at 9am. A Kam
Air B767-200 leaves Dubai every morning on a Kabul turn around. On the days we
fly the 737 from Kabul to Dubai we are leaving at the same time as the Safi 767, and
it has evolved into a fierce competitive race between the two of use to get out first.
There is no enroute radar and the one that leaves Kabul second must wait on the
ground with their engines running for about 15 minutes until the airspace is cleared
by the first flight. This can cost about $300 dollars extra with the 737-200 in wasted
fuel. I am sure the cost is even higher for the 767.

There are two routes between Kabul and Dubai. The most direct and shortest one is
A453 and it is also without a doubt the safest! This route goes over Kandahar, an
excellent airport, and for a 100 mile diameter around Kandahar there is radar going
way up into the flight levels provided by Kandahar approach control. The MEAs
are also much lower over this route because there is hardly any high terrain to speak
of. The other route is G206 and it goes over nothing but high jagged mountains and
is 7 miles longer than A453. There is no airport, and hence no radar, along G206
and the MEAs are high. The American controllers at the Kabul AirTtraffic Control
Center prefer that flights take A453 instead of G206, because the Kandahar radar
controllers really help out in the Kandahar radar controlled airspace. When
translated to straight talk, this means you have less of a chance of having to rely on
your TCAS to avoid a mid air collision over A453. I never take G206 unless A453 is
not available for some reason. I believe in going with the shortest, safest, best route
always, plus I have something to point out to the passengers when I fly over
Kandahar. I have noticed most pilots in this region go the other way, and I think the
reason is because they think it is a lot longer than A453 and it builds up their flight
time for each month. Could there be any other reason? Let’s see 7 miles at about
420 knots in the 737 works out to around 1 minute. This does run the cost up a little
over time for an airline, and some how seems unprofessional to me. It would be like
a surgeon choosing a surgical procedure based solely on how much money he will
make and disregarding everything else. If I have engine trouble or some other
serious problem I want to have a good alternate, emergency airport under me, not a
bunch of rugged Afghan mountains, and that is only available on A453. After all
these are not new airplanes we are flying. The reality is that they are all castaways
from airlines in the United States. I know because I ferried the 737 to Kabul from
the desert in Victorville, California where Delta Airlines had it in mothballs for just
over a year. I do not mean to imply that these are not good planes. They are, but
they are also far from new.

Now getting back to the competition between myself and the 767 leaving Kabul
together at 9am for Dubai. A few days ago it was the closest yet. I taxied out just a
hair ahead of the 767, but from his parking position he was given a clearance to
back taxi on the runway, while I was taxing on the taxiway. After a while I looked
over to my left where the runway is and to my shock the 767 was taxing so fast it
almost looked like he was approaching V1, so I increased my speed just enough to
stay a nose ahead of him, and ground control finally told him to turn off of the
runway at the next intersecting taxiway and get behind me, so it worked out I was
cleared for takeoff first, this time. Of course I flew A453 after departure from
Kabul and I knew that the 767 would, in all probability, fly the longer route G206
when he was finally released, and he did. Normal cruise speed for the 737-200 is
around Mach .72 to .74, but this day I flew around 76 to 77 percent of the speed of
sound, because I knew that the 767 has a normal cruise speed of around 80 percent.
The 767 crew tried like heck to beat me to Dubai, and every time I gave an estimate
for an intersection they always gave their estimate for that same intersection at one
minute ahead of me. By the time we both arrived at our descent point for Dubai,
out over the Persian Gulf, I was still about 20 miles ahead of them and that was
enough. The longer route and taking off second was too much for them to over
come. It was not too long after I started down for Dubai that I heard the UAE
controllers slow the 767 down to the speed I was flying.

Stay tuned because the saga continues. Tomorrow we go head to head again at 9am.
Today when I returned back to Kabul from Herat, Afghanistan, I asked the tower if
I could park the 737 right in front of the Kabul passenger terminal and they gave
me the go ahead. Safi is parked only a little farther away, so I have a slight
advantage tomorrow, but only slight. If the whole Kam Air team can get me out of
the gate ahead of Safi again tomorrow I can save them some fuel, and proudly
announce to the passengers enroute over the PA, as I point out Kandahar passing
by, that Kam Air the only airline with two flights a day between Kabul and Dubai
will be the first flight to land in Dubai from Kabul today.

I’ll keep you posted in another column how this little friendly competition in
Afghanistan is going.

Michael Magnell
From Kabul