First Flight

Introduction.

Twenty years ago, our department selected me to perform Umrah Hajj in Macca holy city in Saudi Arabia. On my selection, my colleagues, friends and relatives offered congratulation. Many people were requesting me to pray to God for them during Umrah. My all family members were happy. It was my first flight on an aeroplane. However, before this, I had travelled by train and bus from one corner to another corner of my country due to my service requirement. A lot of miscellaneous questions were rising in my mind about the transit by air. When I completed pre-departure formalities, my Head Office emailed me for the collection of air tickets, duly visa-stamped passport and medical documents. The next day, I reported to Head Office and received the documents. As per the ticket, my flight was after three days from that day. I rushed home to prepare the transit luggage because three days were left. After three days, I was at International Airport Karachi for Madinah city Saudi Arabia. My family and my relatives were also present at Airport for my see-off. As per the instructions mentioned on the Air Ticket, I entered in Airport by dragging my Luggage one hour before the flight departure.

Scanning and Boarding.

As I had gone forward for boarding, a security officer signalled first to put the baggage on a luggage scanner machine and then go for boarding. On acting upon his signal, I put my baggage in the luggage scanner machine. After the luggage scanning and boarding process, there was an Airport Security Officer; he was guiding the passengers to proceed to the lounges as per their tickets. I reached into the lounge and sat down in a chair. Some passengers were already present there. Now I was very excited for aboard. At that time, our awaiting moments were over when a bus reached the lounge gate to carry us to the flight. When we were boarding the aeroplane, an attendant was standing at the gate to welcome us.

The Departure of Flight.

Now I had seated in PIA (Pakistan International Airline) Aero Plane, and my seat was near a window. It was enough big aeroplane, and the passenger capacity seemed to be around three hundred fifty.  The staff announced the departure of the flight on loudspeaker. They said to fasten your seat belt and keep your baggage underneath your seat or in the overhead compartment. They also did demonstrations on fastening the safety belt and doing other actions in case of emergency. After this, the Aeroplane started running on the runway. Running speed was gradually enhancing, and engines were exhausting voices to roar. Then the Aero Plan left the ground and rose in the air higher and higher.  When the Aero Plan was rising higher in the air, at that time, I felt some instability. However, this situation remained for a very short time. Now the Aero Plan was flying straight in the air.  And we were gasping with each other and enjoying ourselves.

Refreshment.

The air hosts distributed newspapers, magazines, audio airhead phones and water bottles for the refreshment of the passengers with cheerful faces. After this, they appeared with the food trolleys and started serving food. I had not eaten anything last four hours. My stomach was demanding something to eat. I ate the food but did not fill a full stomach with heavy food. The dishes were delicious, and overall food was fantastic. Flight attendants provided blue-coloured blankets to those entire passengers who were feeling cool.       

Scene.

We could watch the location on the screen of the flight tracker from where we were passing. I was enjoying the scenes through the window pane.  Big cities and buildings seemed very small. Rivers seemed like a blue line, and the grassy fields seemed like a small green point. When the flight was passing over the Indian Ocean, I enjoyed the outside scene through the window pane. The sky was full of black clouds. Clouds were thundering. Everything seemed very beautiful.  

Form.

To check the passengers’ expectations and opinions about the airline’s services, printed forms were distributed to all passengers to fill in the blank. I ticked the form box of the word “very good”, and in the comment box, I mentioned cooperation and services of flight staff were “exemplary”.

Flight Diversion.

As per the map tracker, the flight had entered Saudi Arabia Territory. Its destination was Madinah International Airport. But we heard the announcement that the flight would not land at Madinah International Airport due to the worse weather conditions, and therefore, now the flight had been diverted to Jaddah International Airport. On hearing this announcement, a few passengers got upset, but the majority remained normal, and they accepted it with smiling faces. After a few minutes, we heard another announcement that the weather condition in Madinah had become OK, and now the flight would land at Madina International Airport. Again now the atmosphere of the flight was happy.

Flight Landing.

The Captain of the aeroplane blinked the sign-on screen “No Smoking Please”. The flight crew announced, “PIA (Pakistan International Airline) welcomes you to Madinah the City of Saudi Arabia. Please take your seat and fasten your seat belt for landing”. When the aeroplane was coming down to land, once again I felt uneasy. At last, with the blessing of Allah, the Aeroplane wheels touched the ground and started going toward parking at the exit gate. I enjoyed the flight landing through the windowpane. Now the noise of the engines had subsided. Soon door of the Airplane opened, and passengers started to exit. An attendant was standing at the door to see off the passengers. I came out of the Aeroplane and collected the luggage from the baggage conveyor belt.

Immigration.

Separate immigration counters had been established at Madinah International Airport for the Umrah Hajj Pilgrim. I used that counter for immigration purposes. I put my passport to the Immigration Officer.  He checked and asked a few questions. Then he stamped my passport and returned it to me. I put my all luggage in a trolley and came out of the airport. The vehicle was already parked in the parking area to carry the Umrah Hajj Pilgrims.

Results.

It was my first experience of air travelling. I enjoyed it very much. I gained a lot of information through this experience about the following:-

• Interior Ministries of all countries have their own rules and regulation. However, this experience has given some information about the pre-departure formalities to proceed abroad by air.

• What are airport rules of business implied to the passengers?

• Discipline, behaviour and services of an aeroplane crew.

• What do you feel during take-off flight and landing?