"Pilot Simone Aaberg reads in her morning paper the story of a 16-year-old Afghan girl who dreams of becoming a fighter pilot. The story inspires her to fly the 3700 miles to Kabul, find this young woman, Farial, and make her dream come true. She decides to look for a plane and buys the only one she can afford: a 40-year-old 'Donald Duck' Piper-Colt made out of canvas. But problems loom. Her tiny plane can fly only for 3 hours on a full tank and according to the manual it will never fly high enough to cross the Afghan mountains. Bosnia and Iran reject her request to fly over their countries and the Pentagon says that Afghanistan is a war zone and not open for pleasure flights. After challenging every military authority she comes across (she could be shot down at any turn), weeks of traveling, 50 hours in the air, 33 landings, and in the end, flying illegally into Afghanistan at nerve wrecking heights, Simone finally reaches Kabul and finds Farial. To the Afghans Simone is a modern English-speaking girl. She even manages to take Farial into the sky and shows her the rudimentary basics of flying. But then there is the harsh reality of the 1000 year old Afghan family-clan society. And apparently getting to Kabul is only half the battle." -- Back cover.