A Flight to Remember

DrukAir flies once-a-week from Delhi to Paro, Bhutan. We make it. High in the mountains, I can see from the window that we are descending and get a glance at a little airstrip deep in a valley below. We descend below the ridges on both sides. Then the pilot banks steeply to the left and steeply to the right. At a 35 degree bank, we still see trees off both wingtips. At the last minute, the plane crabs to the left losing altitude fast. We touch tarmac and the pilot immediately hits the air-brakes. That's a landing like I've never experienced.

Later, I ask Tika Ram - our guide - about a private jet on the runway. "Does it take special training to land here?" "Most planes make three passes before they get up enough nerve to land." he states.