DHL to Baghdad?

[jungly]

Whats the low down? I hear DHL are flying 727s from BAH to Baghdad.... Min and unregulated crew rest? Surely a recipe for disaster?

Im sure its great flying but lets not lose sight of the aim and a bit of commonsense. Thats what the military are there for :)

[Thunderbird 3]

Gulf Air are flying DHL A300F BAH-BGW 4 times a day.
"Cargo must be collected on arrival due to no warehouse available in BGW."
How are they clearing thru customs cargo ?
Wouldn't think Uncle Sam likes the idea of consignments moving into the country unregulated.

Thunderbird 3.

[acmi48]

a lot of the goods must be mail and items for the coalition forces, airspace is still restricted for commercial operations also accord to the ramcc site the militray no longer offload comm operations

[deing]

This operation has been going for 5 weeks now and uses EAT aircraft (2 B727 & 1 A300) and since yesterday also an Islanflug A300-600
A300 flies twice a day to Bagdad
one 727 daily to Mosul, Iraq, the other one to Bagram, Afghanistan and comes back to Bahrain via Lahore
Freight I believe is mainly mail and supplies (food)

Jungly : ref min & unregulated crew rest. The Bagdad & Mosul sectors are less then 8 hours so I don't think that's a long duty. The Bagram route is almost 12hrs trip but that crew doesn't do that 2 days in a row

deing

[jungly]

Deing - many thanks.

[ebbr2]

Not to forget, they go on a 16on 12 off duty and fly every two days about.
There's no extra pay, and no real insurance...

Anybody volunteering?????

i heard that the first crew who went up there broke down in Baghdad and had a very pleasant 2 day layover in the palestine hotel. (wushhh, he missed me)

[Bob Down]

ebbr2

>Not to forget, they go on a 16on 12 off duty and fly every two days about.
There's no extra pay, and no real insurance...>

Are you an insurance broker? Please define 'real' for the rest of us who don't follow your thoughts here?

BD

[mtogw]

As a loadie I.ve just got back in to Bahrain from doing the Baghram Lahore run in one of the 727s we're also doing a Mosul run in the 727, schedules vary but generally its 2 a300 runs to Baghdad with different crews, a Mosul run and a Baghram, Lahore run, filling in with some AN12s on smaller routes. everything is reasonably routine,
Thers is a warehouse in Baghdad where the mail is being sorted, and customs and immgration aare alive and operating, we had an arrival check on the a/c by customs a few days ago,,
Schedules are very much controlled by freight loads inbound to us, mostly Kalitta 747 to BAH. hopefully that will clear the picture for you all a bit better.

[Fonck]

The 72's there aren't in a very good shape. Old laddies, off course, but not well maintained,as usual...and in addition these a/c are dash 7 or dash 9. The real stuff for this kind of operation !

Crewmembers are all Belgian, 'cause nobody wants to fly in a war zone for chicken feed. These blokes are so proud and so happy to fly over the desert for peanuts, let's give them their head...

If you are contacted for this job, think twice !

[jungly]

Lots of useful info - thank you very much.

I know for a fact that one of the pilots on the 727 is a kiwi.

[Fonck]

It's beginning to date...

The Kiwi, AKA Mac Problem, is now on the 75'.

[geronimo]

A few facts....
Fonck - "727s aren't in very good shape + not well maintained"??? Where do you get your intelligence? Show us some facts to justify such statements. These a/c have been operating in Europe for the past 10 years with a very good reputation. "dash 7 or 9" - I'll have you know that one of the a/c is a dash -15. Maybe for your standards a little overpowered for this operation.
Fonck - "Crew members are all Belgian" ??? your source is obviously on another planet when it comes to reliable. I hope the Ned, UK, POR, SPA, FRE national crew memebrs on this operation do not take offence to your statement.

Before you knock an operation with ZERO know-how get your facts right.

[Fonck]

Geronimo,

Don't want to have any argument...

But, I've been flying these aeroplanes for three years, and I have my finger on the pulse !

[7HD]

Well, they would still be tootling around Northern Europe were it not for Chapter 3 requirements in the some key hubs. I estimate that is a match of uplift needs against capacity and equipment availability. And lets face, there is more than one or two surplus now with a fully valid CA.
Seems a perfectly commercially sensible move to me.

[Bob Down]

Sorry Fonck,

Gotta disagree, the crewmembers based out of Bahrain are not all Belgian.

BD

[mtogw]

Fonck, a quick question, if you have your finger on the pulse are you based here in BAH?? There are a large number of BRU based crews here, but a lot of nationalities, enjoying what we are all doing.. so a lot of us don't have a problem being here. and the MX guys are keeping the 727s running reliably old though they maybe, temperature on the Baghdad ramp the other day was 52 and you get a pretty good tan there...

[deing]

Pictures of the operation can be found at:

http://users.telenet.be/wbaert/index.htm