Our ride’s arrived!

I’m slowly getting used to the idea of flying in a tiny twin propeller plane. I usually do a couple of domestic flights a month, and I know what to expect. I’m not one to get panicky about flying.   Nepal in general has a bad safety record with flights, however aircraft accidents dwindle in comparison to road accidents. Every week there’s another story about a bus with 24 passengers hurdling off a windy mountain road plunging 250 meters down to the valley floor, usually taking another couple of vehicles with it. If the choice is 20 minutes in the air or driving 8 hours on windy, treacherous roads, I take a statistic approach to the danger.

One of the upsides of flying on tiny aircraft from tiny airports is that the procedure for embarking and disembarking is less of an ordeal. You simply walk across the tarmac and board.

Yes, we’re really getting on that…

My flight back from Janakpur earlier this year was on the smallest twin propeller yet. It seated only twenty people: eight single seats on each side, and four at the back. It was cosy to say the least. You could lean forward and watch the pilot in the cockpit, yet the flight attendant still came around with candies and water.  I looked out of the tiny window as we flew north across the sparsely populated, but dramatic hill country towards Kathmandu.  Twenty minutes later we were back in the city, having avoided the particularly windy road from Hetauda to Kathmandu and lived to fly another day!

The cosy interior

For more stories on the travel themes of “interiors” visit: http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/10/10/travel-theme-interior/