FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1487.PDF
FLIGHT, 10 August 1950 163 provided for. Muslims are required to wash before each of the rive daily times of prayer, the face, hands and feet being laved, and the arms as far as the elbow. It can be imagined that the ordinary toilet basin in an aircraft has been found quite inadequate for this purpose, and so a deep tray has to be -.fitted to cover the floor below the basin. To conserve the emergency supply, the tap is. usually disconnected and arrange- ments made for a small measure of water to be drawn individually. It is also customary to remove one sanitary furnishing complete, by the hinges, to prevent it being damaged by misuse. It cannot be denied that the first, at any rate, of these nights is a romantic experience. A large group of Pakistani Muslims gathers about the passenger-loading point in front of the Karachi airport buildings. It is two hours after mid- night as the aircraft taxies into position from the parking site. There is a warm, moist wind from the Arabian Sea, and patches of stratus cloud are drifting across the face of the moon; the air is heavy withs the scent of jasmine from the garlands which are hung about the necks of the men. Pilgrims and well-wishers alike are dressed in their finest clothes in honour of the occasion, the men in black frock-coats and white jodhpurs, the women in long veils of black or dark-green silk over lighter garments which are embroidered with gold and silver thread. If there are two parties in one aircraft the country women, usually more orthodox Muslims, may be recognized by the ankle-length burkah, an enveloping garment of white linen with a visor-like headpiece. The baggage con- sists of rolls of bedding, and cooking and drinking vessels. When the farewells have been completed on the tarmac, the pilgrims are shown to their seats where they are briefed in Urdu by a uniformed Pakistani traffic officer. He tells them of the arrangements for emergencies, for drawing water, and how to use the paper bags. Those from the stricter communities who are inured to purdah will find it strange to eat in public, and to be served or tended by a European woman, but they quickly afford their confidence to a sympathetic hostess. In the dimly lit cabin after take-off these people exercise their enviable gift to compose themselves immediately to sleep, the younger children curling up within their seats like fledglings in the nest, and the women, unused to western conventions of sedentary deportment, wedging their limbs against table tops or window frames; the gangway is littered with cast-off sandals, and the shapely feet projecting from embroidered silk pyjamas reveal an unexpected propensity for lacquered toe-nails. The pink dashboard lighting of the cockpit shows the crew stooping over their various tasks; trained as they are to ignore feelings and work in facts when in the air, they are still unable to dissociate themselves entirely from the general sense of expectancy. In the bright moonlight, high above the Arabian Sea, there is a view from the cockpit windows of the silver line of tracery where the swell from the south-west monsoon is breaking in surf along the barren shores of Baluchistan; it is an appropriate setting for the fabled magic carpet. When the first streaks of dawn light up the sky astern, the pilgrims will rise in turn to draw water from the galley, and after their ablutions will carry out the first of the five daily prayer sessions. Their prostrations will be performed in the gangway, for in that direction Mecca lies. It is convenient to refuel at Bahrein, for aircraft are routed from there across the Nejd. There is an emergency diversion available at Riyadh, but normally that city, too, must be avoided, for it is King Ib'n Saud's capital. European crews which land there for any reason are confined within the guest house, and are not permitted to come and go within the city, although every facility is given them to complete their business. The pilgrims always ask for warning of one hour from E.T.A. This is so that they have time to don the ihram, a two-piece egalitarian garment of white linen which is the stipulated garb for entry into Mecca. Unfortunately this period coincides with a particularly rough part of the flight. It has been related that the schedule is fixed to arrive at Jidda in time to proceed by road to Mecca before sunset; this means the late forenoon. Between the Nejd and the mountains of the Hejaz there is a plain of lava called Harra. It has resisted all weathering and lies bare and pitiless under the brassy sun. In the hot weather (the haji season has been the late summer these last few years) it is an area of fierce convection currents from early forenoon until sunset; there is hardship enough for the women in the confined space of the cabin and the abeyance of their habitual purdah, without the distress of sickness. In a short while the mountains ate cleared, and the long descent to the Red Sea begins. From circuit height at Jidda the channels and shoals which form the anchorage can be seen, with shallow-draught dhows shuttling the human freight from large steamers to the jetties. The road to Mecca runs south- eastwards into the distant hills. Jidda airport consists of a huge landing strip with few facilities to serve it. The mar- shalling area is filled, during the season, with aircraft from all the Arabic countries of the Middle East and Fertile Crescent, and is subjected to a sandstorm whenever one taxies in or out. British aircraft are usually handled by those shipping and mercantile houses which have held our trade in these parts of the world. At the parking site there are no arrangements for the disposal of refuse; Elsan containers are tipped into the sand amid a welter of garbage and rejected food boxes. In time the blazing sun and hot desert wind can destroy all filth, but at this peak time the accumulation is too rapid. There are flies everywhere, so thick that one cannot take the cool drink in one's hand. Aircraft are landing all the time, and a zealous agent has only one desire—to turn his clients round as soon as possible. The large cheque for haji fees is handed to the Saudi Arabian authorities, and with blessings and handshakes the men bid farewell to the crew. Dominating the scene are the tail fins of the Freighters of Saudi Arabian Airways. They carry the arms of the country, with the Arabic script La illaha ill 'Allah, battle cry of the Wahhabi and creed of Islam—"There is no God but God." FOUNDER'S DAY Marshal of the R.A.F. Viscount Trenchard—the " Father of the Royal Air Force "—was the reviewing officer when the passing-out parade of the 57th entry of aircraft apprentices was held at Hahon last week. He is seen (left) inspecting the ranks of the Entry and presenting a prize to Sgt. App/Air. A. R. Murray, highest in all subjects. Details of the parade appear on p. 184.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
