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The week later, I visited Iran (together with a German spotter-friend). I realized once more that it is better to make yourself an opinion of a country like Iran, its culture and its people than to believe what you hear or what you read. The people in Western countries often have wrong prejudices regarding arabic countries as Iran. My opinion of Iran is a better one after such trip. What I especially liked in Iran: the simple, nice and helpful people (I have not met one person during the whole Iran-trip who was bad-tempered, stressed or unhelpful!), good food (chicken or lamb with rice, no alcohol, lots of tea or Zam-Zam Cola), no feeling of unsecurity during our evening walks in Tehran (in my opinion, Western cities like Paris or Brussels are more dangerous at night than Tehran), excellent cakes, the complete chaos on the streets
but nevertheless the traffic does (nearly) never come to a stop, the « small things » we noted and the experiences we had (
).
Less than one day after my arrival in Tehran, my dream to fly once with the good old Boeing 707 (before the 707 is completely put out of service) became true. We had luck and got tickets for the charter-flight Tehran-Kish-Tehran with a Boeing 707 of Saha Air. As it was an evening flight, I could fully enjoy my first 707-flight(s). We had lived some unforgettable moments (
) thanks e.g. to the crew of Saha Air. Three days later, we had again the luck on our side and got tickets for the (regular!) morning flight from Tehran to Mashad
again with the non-hushkitted Boeing 707 registered EP-SHE of Saha Air. Ten minutes after take off of Tehran's Mehrabad-Airport, we could enjoy through the window the biggest mount of Iran, the vulcan Damavand (5.671 m, cf. picture). The landing at Mashad was extremely spectacular
as some fire flames came out of engine n°1 during the reverse moments on the runway. But things got far better later
something totally unimaginable happened
on our return flight, after take off, the captain invited us to come to the cockpit and to enjoy the rest of the flight on the jump-seats of the 707-cockpit together with the crew
I can not express in words such experience ... and especially the landing inside the cockpit of the 707 at Tehran's International Airport during rush-hour at midday (I forgot to sit down on touch-down !): for a 707-fan, no other experience may top this one. Wow!
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