Everest Flight, One Adventurous Ride to Lukla
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What is more scary than taking a flight on a small twin engine plane through the Himalayas of Nepal from Kathmandu to Lukla? Having to take a flight back in rough weather.
After two weeks of trekking the the most famous mountain range on earth it was time to return to civilization. At 2800 meters, Lukla is the town where most people start and finish their trek to Everest Base Camp.
The Tenzing/Hillary airport is a crazy airstrip dangling off the side of a mountain. It is short, it is steep and it falls thousands of meters into an enormous valley.
That's one short runway!!
Trekking down from Base Camp we had heard rumours that planes had been delayed for 3 days due to weather. This did not look promising for us. We really wanted to get back down and out of the mountains.
The thing about trekking is, once you have reached your goal, all you want to do is get back down and move on to other things. The climb is over, the excitement is gone and you are sick and tired of the place. All we wanted was to catch a flight off the mountain and enjoy some pasta back at Kathmandu.
On the morning of our flight we awoke to grey clouds and fog. We were scheduled to fly out at 9:00 but that time came and went.
Starbucks...but not Really!
The problem with being delayed in Lukla is that there isn’t anything to do there. Prices are high and the village is small. We went for a walk and circled the area in about a half an hour. At least there was a “Starbucks” to hang out in. It isn’t the real Starbucks Coffee, but it was comfortable and sort of warm with decent lattes. We really wished that we had brought our Iphone to check email or at least to talk on Skype because they offer free wifi here.
Since we didn’t have our Iphone, we had to pay 10 NPR per minute at the Internet Café. We are notoriously cheap about certain things and overpriced Internet is one of those things that we refuse to pay for.
So with nothing else to do, we sat and waited….and waited.
The weather was bad!
After a few of hours we heard a group of planes returning from Kathmandu. Things were looking up! Round one had made it through and round two was flying out mere minutes after the planes arrived. We were scheduled for wave three. If the weather holds off we would be back to Kathmandu by the end of the day.
By 3:30 we were told to go to the airport and check in. Looks like we would be flying out after all.
Two planes came in one after another and as quickly as the passengers were filing off, we were filing on. We had barely enough time to strap in to one of the 14 seats on the tiny plane before the pilot took off. I looked at the window across the aisle. It had a crack that was taped shut with duct tape.
Right, this was going to be safe.
The takeoff from Lukla is terrifying. The short runway plunges into a deep valley surrounded by the Himalayas. I couldn’t look out the window for fear that we fall off the end of the airstrip before getting liftoff. I kept telling myself that the pilots are professionals, they do this several times a day. Every day.
Ready for Take Off!!
There was a jolly Sherpa in the seat beside Dave that kept me calm. He had obviously taken this flight many times. He was relaxed and when the weather was rough I looked to him to make sure he was still smiling.
Not long into the flight, we hit severe turbulence. When I looked over to the friendly Sherpa, his smile had faded.
We were tossed around like a rubber duckies in a wave pool. Everyone fell silent. There was an uneasy feeling and the mood was heavy. We hit an air pocket so hard that if we weren’t wearing our seat belts we would have gone head first into the ceiling.
All we wanted was to get out of Lukla earlier that morning and now we wished that we had waited an extra day for the air to clear.
I reached behind to grab Dave’s knee with my sweaty palm. I clenched his leg and thought to myself, “Well at least if we crash we will be together”
Looking out the window didn't help!
I tried to look out the window to relax. Maybe if I face my fears head on and embrace the view I will feel better. But the constant swaying, bumping and rocking made me airsick.
Even Dave, who has the steadiest of nerves was silent and stressed.
My mind wandered and I went through all the times I had been rude, complained or was short with people during our travels. I worried that Karma was coming to bite me in the ass. Maybe I should have given that guy some extra Rupees, maybe I should have stopped to buy that necklace from that sweet vendor. Why didn’t I tip that waiter more money and why was I short with the guy trying to sell me something on the street. I vowed to be a better person. I had not been sensitive enough to people’s situations and what right did I have to survive and go home to my comfortable life in Canada while so many people are suffering in this world? Seriously, I thought about these things.
It was the longest 45 minutes of my life.
When we landed, the jolly Sherpa laughed and clapped his hands and I knew then that we were on a flight that made even the most frequent fliers of the Himalayas shake in their boots.
We talked to a fellow trekker that was on the other plane from the wave three group while we picked up our luggage in the parking lot. (Yes, we picked up our luggage in the parking lot) She threw up on her flight and looked dazed and shocked. I am surprised that people didn’t throw up on our flight myself included.
We all seemed a little shell shocked by the experience.
But we were safe now.
The sun was shining bright and it was warm and breezy in Kathmandu. We had been cold for two weeks on the Everest Base Camp Trek and had forgotten how warm it was at a lower altitude.
We survived Everest, We survived that flight and now all we had to do was survive that taxi ride through the insane traffic back to the guest house.
As with everything in our travels Dave can now say, “Been there, done that and bought the T-shirt to prove it.”
15 Responses to Everest Flight, One Adventurous Ride to Lukla
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Sounds like quite an exciting flight. We took a single engine plane from the capital of Belize across the jungle to a small grass strip near the Guatemalan border to stay in a jungle resort. That was quite an exciting flight. I asked the pilot where he would land if the engine failed and he just shrugged. He did some low approaches over a Mayan ruin and over some flamingos and manatees.
.-= Michael Tefft´s last blog ..Shooting the Mosin Nagant =-.
That sounds like a great flight Michael. I guess it is just best to not think about those things. That is what I assume the pilot was doing:-)
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Wow I can totally relate to this! Did this trip about 2 weeks ago and on the return flight to Kathmandu we were delayed for 4 hours. We even got in the plane and it was about to taxi off, then they decided to abort, it parked and we all had to file off the plane again to our frustration! We sat on the tarmac under the wing for 2 hours just in case at any minute they would say it was going to take off again…
.-= Beryl´s last blog ..Black + White =-.
Hi Beryl. I don’t know if I would be able to get on the plane after they decided to abort the take off. We had to abort a flight during mid take off in Kilimanjaro Airport. If I were allowed off the plane, I never would have gotten back on. Instead we all had to stay onboard while a sandstorm passed through. All I wanted was off.
It is very frustrating waiting. We kept walking back and forth to the airport just to see if any planes had arrived. We did say to ourselves that we were the lucky ones. The people on the first flight out had to sit and wait in the airport and couldn’t leave. At least we had some freedom and just had to be close to our hotel to receive the word that we could fly.
I did the flights in and out of Lukla last year. Kind of like landing on an aircraft carrier stranded in the mountains. The departure is fun – they stow extra luggage in the aisles. Avoid the German bakery – they seem to be missing a few key ingredients in their food….
That is the perfect way to describe it Keith. I would love to land on an aircraft carrier. Now that we have survived Everest, I think that I could handle it:)
Great video – I had forgotten what it was like to be able to see into the cockpit and through the front windows of the plane.
The worst flight I can recall being on was a 6-passenger single-engine plane from Ft. George, Belize out to Ambergris Caye…..the pilot looked to be in his teens, but tried hard to appear professional in his crisp, pressed uniform. On landing at the extremely tiny, all dirt airstrip on Ambergris, he had to abort landing once to avoid a goat that wandered onto the airstrip, then on his second try he had to do this odd hop-and-dodge maneuver to avoid some chickens. The people there would not have taken kindly to the loss of their valuable livestock, and the pilot knew that. At one point I was afraid he was going to roll the plane, but we made it there and back safely.
.-= Trisha Miller´s last blog ..To Be Successful at Writing, Make Time to Write =-.
Oh My God Trisha. That is way more terrifying than our experience. I would have been afraid to get back on the plane. I cannot believe that a goat wandered on to the airstrip. I am glad you made it back safely.
I think after reading your description Kristen will be even more petrified than she normally is on big planes! I hope she doesn’t read this.
My worst experience on a plane was between Martha’s Vineyard & Hyannisport. It should have taken about 20 minutes but the flight kept going, & going…for about 50 minutes. We were in pea soup fog and I have no idea to this day what happened. The pilots weren’t talking so our imaginations were working overtime and one thinks the worst.
I’d rather walk to Lukla.
.-= Leigh´s last blog ..Life After Twitter =-.
Hi Leigh, We were actually thinking of Kristen during this flight. Our flight with her to Zanibar was pretty scary. It wasn’t scary on the way there, but worse on the way back. Now that is a terrifying experience that you had to Martha’s Vineyard. I always look to the flight attendants for reassurance. I wonder what they were doing on your flight? Did they look nervous too?
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That sounds truly terrifying! I’m not a fan of flying at the best of times and I really don’t think you would get me on a plane again after that!
Amazing and life thrilling adventure flights … It’s provide fun sometimes but in the cloudy day, my heart starts to sake with fear … I flew more then 50 times
Ooh, I think that flying this route on a regular basis would be scary indeed.