DHL management had decided that all 727 aircraft going into Bagdad and Balad must conduct their spiral downs from 15,000 feet instead of the normal 8 - 9,000 feet which has been going on for the past year.. Only problem is, the military don't conduct these types of approaches anymore. The end result was 3 flights returned back to Bahrain without dropping off their cargo because the pilots refused to except any lower altitudes to spiral down. What is the pilot to do when DHL (for insurance purposes )saids you have to follow this company procedure and the military saids you can't spiral down from 15,000. The only thing that can be done is return, and screw up the sort for the next couple of days.. Man I love it when a plan comes together.
