KABUL AIRPORT 16 AUGUST 2021
“Completing the pre-flight checklist:”
Flight controls — Checked
Instruments and radios — Checked
Altimeter — Checked
Gyroscope — Checked
Fuel gauges — Checked
Propeller — Checked
Magnetos — Checked
Flaps — Checked
Unchecked items:
People on the runway
People hiding in the wheel cavities
People clinging to the fuselage
. . .
“Fasten your seatbelts.
We are ready and safe to take off.”
Life long socialist. Now retired, I have been an office junior, a bookseller, a docker and a teacher. I write a lot and read a lot more. Committed member of the Society of Authors, English PEN and the National Education Union. Never voting Labour again.