OUR COMMUNITY
W
hen Delta Air Lines
put out a call for
crews to operate an
urgent flight out of Germany,
which at the time was simply
coded as a “military operation,
”
Southfield-based pilot Captain
Alexander Kahn happened
to have a few free days in his
monthly schedule.
“I accepted the rotation,
”
Kahn, 52 and a member of
Southfield’s Young Israel syn-
agogue, says. What the pilot
didn’t know is that he would
be flying a plane full of Afghan
refugees escaping the violence
and chaos of Taliban-controlled
Afghanistan to the U.S. for
freedom.
Prior to the flight, which
completed the mission in late
August, several Delta crews met
in New York’s JFK airport to fly
an empty plane to Frankfurt,
Germany. “There was much
chatter as we introduced our-
selves and tried to figure out
what the flights were all about,
”
Kahn recalls.
The pilot, who has been
flying commercial airlines for
21 years and Delta’s mainline
for seven years, says there was
speculation over whether the
crews would be transporting
active-duty soldiers back from
a training exercise or mission,
or family members returning
to the U.S. after a three-year
assignment in Germany.
Yet with the Afghanistan
crisis central in the news, Kahn
realized that the flight could
in fact be transporting civil-
ians who escaped its capital of
Kabul. “That first night, nobody
knew for sure,
” he remembers.
“
After we arrived in Germany,
the general feeling was that this
was most likely an evacuation
flight.
”
GATHERING SUPPLIES
FOR EVACUEES
While Delta is known for oper-
ating regional and international
flights, the airline also handles
sports charters and military
charters. As the crew touched
down at Germany’s Ramstein
Air Base, which serves as head-
quarters for the U.S. Air Force
in Europe, they quickly got to
work preparing the flight.
Pilots reviewed paperwork
and programming, while flight
attendants prepared the cabin
for passengers. Ground support
teams got everything ready for
takeoff. However, as realization
dawned that this was an evacu-
ation flight for Afghan refugees,
who left their lives behind and
escaped Afghanistan by the
thousands without preparation,
it became clear that supplies
were needed.
Without prompting, flight
attendants stepped in to sup-
port the evacuees. “
At dinner
the night before, we all brain-
stormed what the needs might
be,
” Kahn says. “Not knowing
the exact circumstances, our
flight attendants theorized that
the evacuees might have run
with only what they could carry
and there might not have been
a chance to bathe since evacu-
ating.
”
This meant children, in par-
ticular, would be without cru-
cial supplies like diapers, toys
and other distractions to help
soothe them during a physically
and emotionally challenging
process. “The focus quickly
switched to the children,
” Kahn
continues. “What could they
eat? Would western candy con-
tain too much sugar? Would
their diaper sizes be smaller
than those of U.S. babies?”
The decision was made: the
flight attendants purchased
diapers, wipes, coloring books,
gummy bears and balloons.
While the three pilots offered
to pay for the items, the flight
attendants insisted upon their
contribution. “
All of this was
very inspirational to me,
” Kahn
says.
During the next morning
in the hours before the flight,
Kahn met a friend, and the two
visited the Base Exchange store
to purchase additional supplies.
He spoke with several mothers,
who advised on what to get.
“They instantly asked how they
could help, once again illustrat-
ing that generosity is alive and
well in our military families and
American society,
” Kahn says.
ELEMENT OF NOSTALGIA
While the flight from Germany,
itself, was uneventful, it held
priceless meaning to Kahn,
the Delta crew and the Afghan
refugees who were transported
to Texas, to begin the process
of resettlement. For Kahn, who
began his flight training and
earned his private pilot’s license
at Ramstein Air Base, there was
an element of nostalgia to the
mission.
“Because this is a military
base overseas, I never expected
to be able to fly there again,
” he
says. Knowing that Ramstein
Rescue
Flight
18 | SEPTEMBER 16 • 2021
Southfield pilot, son of Holocaust
survivor, flies plane full of Afghan
refugees to U.S.
ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Captain Alexander Kahn