Flight from Kathmandu to Lukla

The start of the Everest trekking region for most people is the small town of Lukla so before we left China we’d booked our flight ready for our planned 3 weeks of trekking. Arriving at the domestic flights area of the airport on the morning of the flight resembled something more like the queue and scrum that is an opening for a new Ikea store or the start of the Next sale (so I’ve been told having not been to either I hasten to add!!). Hardly any flights had left Kathmandu for the past few days because of bad weather in the Lukla region, so there were people everywhere, most of which had just turned up hoping that today they may be lucky enough to get squeezed onto a flight! We weren’t really expecting to fly, especially when we’d heard stories from people who had now been waiting 4 days – kinda thought they may take priority! Anyway, Shona like an Ikea opening seasoned pro pushed and barged her way to the front of the queue to ask at the desk (and it was just that, a small desk!) what was going on to be told that nothing was leaving at the moment. About 20 minutes later there was lots of activity and again Shona managed to push her way through the hordes, suddenly she was calling me forward too – somehow we’d managed to get a boarding pass for the actual flight we were due to be on which should be leaving an hour or so late….cool, although still had my doubts whether or not we’d fly! About an hour later our boarding numbers were called so along with 12 others we jumped on a shuttle bus out to the plane. The plane was a small 14 seat twin-engined otter, we’d decided not to go with Lucky Air, as honestly I don’t really want luck playing any part and opted instead for Yeti – a good name in these parts!! We boarded and sat on the plane for another 30 minutes before suddenly taking to the air. The flight should only be about 40 minutes and around 30 in, having not seen a thing other than cloud out of the window, we changed course suddenly and dipped – not sure if it was turbulance or the collective sigh of 14 passengers but we were heading back to Kathmandu, Lukla airport had been closed! Landed, got back on the bus before turning around halfway and heading back to the plane….well a different plane (didn’t dare ask what was wrong with the first one!), waited for 30 minues again and then we were off. This time around 30 minutes into the flight the cloud broke and we were flying around 200 meters above mountains and through a small pass, as the plane banked left you could suddenly see a small airstrip in the distance – when I say small, the runway is just over 500m long, which is why only small planes can land here. Plus, it is also built at a 12 degree angle, this is just enough to slow landing planes down and just enough to speed up the ones taking off!! This is no flight for those scared of flying… as you come in to land you are faced with hitting a 700m cliff face at the start of the runway where it is built into a ledge or over shooting the runway and hitting the hill at the back if the plane doesn’t slow down in time. All this while trying to land a plane in 500m – it’s bit of an adrenaline rush as you can imagine…..landed safe and sound about 3 hours late but it’s better than waiting 4 days! Felt a little guilty but hey show me the way to Everest! Can’t wait for the return flight home now, full speed for 500m before plunging off a 700m drop hoping that the plane has enough speed to stay in the sky – wahoo!