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About Allan Cram
Born and raised in northern Ontario, Allan calls Chapleau his hometown. At five years old, unable to see over the dash or reach the rudder pedals, his father taught him to fly—the quintessential performing child act. Even though he later developed a passion for stories, he flew a floatplane for a living when he was 19.
In 1977, Allan learned to fly helicopters and worked in remote (and mosquito infested) areas across Canada. Five years later he attended the University of Victoria, flew summer contracts to pay tuition and moved on to post-graduate studies at the University of British Columbia in 1988.
Allan eked out a living as a freelance writer for a year then worked as Chief Editor/Education Office with a branch of the provincial government. About five years later he returned to aviation and has worked in six (not five) of the seven continents flying for the United Nations and/or offshore oil exploration.
He has been an editorial contributor to Helicopters in Canada magazine since 1986, and has published stories and articles in Prism international, The Canadian Forum, Agriculture BC, Vertical Magazine, Aviation Safety Australia and Australia Aviation.
He currently lives in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia with his wife and two children, as well as two parakeets, two finches, one canary, one hamster and two guinea pigs.
Why You Hear Gunfire in Kabul
This week, helicopter pilot Allan Cram discovers the safety and security manual he says his crew should have received when they first arrived in Afghanistan. Better late than never? Maybe not in a country in the midst of war, where every common type of gunfire is identified in a manual. [Read more]
Afghanistan Calling Part 5: Good Little Soldiers Wanted
Civilian helicopter Allan Cram continues to question the sanity of flying to Afghanistan's Kajaki Dam where a forced landing would mean almost certain capture by the Taliban. Cram has no intention of becoming being "the next Internet beheading victim." [Read more]
Afghanistan Calling Part 4: Circus of the Absurd
A civilian Canadian helicopter team in Afghanistan tries to get to the bottom of his customer's request that his crew fly alone into one of the country's most dangerous territories, Kajaki Dam. Meanwhile, the crew is being berated by the Country Manager for "being chicken shit." But there's brave, and then there's stupid... [Read more]
Afghanistan Calling Part 3: Hostile Zone, Twilight Zone
When I arrived in Kabul on August 6, after travelling about 24 hours, I was met at the airport by the other crew, and was then told about the suicide bomber in the yellow Toyota, the theft of the police uniforms, and about a scheduled flight the next morning — in 11 hours — to fly south to a Forward Operating Base (FOB) 65 miles northeast of Kandahar to take photographs of a bridge along the highway... [Read more]
Afghanistan Calling Part 2: Flying in a Hostile Environment
Allan Cram had his assignment in Afghanistan: "to overfly some of the most perilous terrain in the world, where kidnap victims had little hope of being released alive, where Taliban extremists believed math should be taught to Afghan boys not by the adding or subtracting of apples and oranges, but by counting bullets and AK-47s." [Read more]
Stirring Up The Dust — A Memoir for Father’s Day
While cleaning out his garage a son finds his father's obituary, which takes him back to the tragic circumstances of his dad's death and stirs up the past. [Read more]
Afghanistan Calling Part 1: Flying in a Hostile Environment
Helicopter pilot Allan Cram was used to flying in dangerous places, even war zones. But Afghanistan's Kajaki Dam was considered by even seasoned military people to be, at that time, "the most dangerous place on earth". Why would a sane pilot willingly fly there? [Read more]
A Year of Living Dangerously?
Working oversees as a helicopter pilot, Allan Cram has lived in some of the world's most dangerous places, including Afghanistan and Sudan. But as he discovers, most people are just "working stiffs" like him, trying to put food on the table. [Read more]
My Bi-polar Blood Stained Existence in A War-Ravaged Society
My life is full of contradictions, or what I call my bi-polar activity. Not that I have some clinically diagnosed chemical imbalance in my aging grey matter; rather, unlike most of my friends whose work and home life are often inter-related, mine is completely disparate. [Read more]
My Private Sudan: Part II
Does the Western world really get the truth about what is happening in far-flung countries? Do reporters overseas see the real picture – the big picture? These issues are explored in second installment of My Private Sudan from writer and helicopter pilot Allan Cram in which his recollections of Sudan differ dramatically from reports in some Western newspapers. [Read more]
