© Copyright of Abu Dhabi Media Company PJSC. SHARJAH // As the door on the airplane with two giant propellers slammed shut, Juma bin Humaid closed his eyes and started to pray. The 42-year-old was about to fly for the first time, travelling to Bahrain with his mother on the first leg of their Haj. Their starting point, in 1968, was the UAE's first airport. With eight other passengers, they boarded a white and blue Gulf Aviation plane at Sharjah's old airport, known as Al Mahatta, or The Station. "We were scared as the plane was small, very loud and shook a lot," recalls Mr Juma, 84. "The seats were narrow and there were no meals, no drinks, no real services provided on the plane. But I didn't really care. I just wanted the trip to be over and for us to land safely." From Bahrain, he and his mother boarded an Indian ship for the six-hour trip to Dhahran, in Saudi Arabia. From there, they took a Russian bus along with 160 other people, taking several days to reach Mecca. "Everything was harder then, and deciding on a trip to Mecca always had to be taken with the possibility of never returning back home," said Mr Juma, a father of six. The runway was a thin strip of Tarmac in the middle of the desert in southeastern Sharjah. Next to it was one of the areas most visible landmarks, a three-story white control tower that stands to this day. Inside the terminal, it was hot, as puny electric fans struggled to cope with the scorching sun. "It was a very basic airport," Mr Juma <b>...</b>
When Sharjah ruled the skies
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