Taking the Yak to Khujand

Tajikistan is a very mountainous country, and getting from one city to another involves hours of driving or short flights. Some people choose the drive.

When I was asked to fly up to Khujand in the north of Tajikistan in order to visit a few project sites, I was happy for the opportunity to see the projects and meet the people who actually benefit from them. I'm not sure if my colleagues were trying to warn me or scare me about the flights, but I didn't really know what to expect.

Going up to Khujand, I flew on a tiny Russian-made commuter jet called a Yak. On the ground, there was no air conditioning, and it got quite hot and sweaty in there. Fortunately, a man in a police uniform waved me into the seat next to him, and I asked if he flew this route very often. He said that he made the trip every week, so I felt more confident in our plane. One thing my colleagues mentioned was that the Yak, being so small, would react much more to turbulence. That day, the skies were clear, and there wasn't any turbulence that I felt. Once it cooled off inside, the flight was pleasant.

Coming back was a bit of a different story. That flight was on a larger medium-range Russian Tupolev that had clearly seen its best days many years ago. Just about anything inside that could fall into disrepair had, but the wings stayed on and the engines worked for the entire trip. My colleagues said they preferred that larger Tupolev to the smaller Yak. I'll take the Yak any day.