23.11.2007
The journey to an Emmy began at Copenhagen Airport

When, in the best Indiana Jones style, Simone Kærn decided to fly from Denmark to Afghanistan to teach a 16-year-old the art of aviation, Copenhagen Airport helped her get off the ground. This time, Kærn flew to New York City to attend an awards ceremony: her adventure has been turned into an Emmy-nominated documentary.

It all began one day in the autumn of 2001, with Simone Kærn sitting at one of Copenhagen’s many cafés, reading the newspaper over a cup of coffee.

In that newspaper was a moving account of a 16-year-old Afghan girl whose greatest desire was to become a pilot. That started Kærn on the path to an incredible adventure that sent her and her friend Magnus Bejmar off to Afghanistan the very next year to teach that Afghan girl to fly.

From dream to reality In September 2002, Kærn set course for Kabul in a Piper Colt. It took her three months and 30 stops on the way before she landed that small propeller-driven plane at the airport in the capital city of Afghanistan. And she managed to find that 16-year-old girl – and taught her to fly. Her epic journey was filmed by Bejmar, whose main task was to immortalise Kærn in her battle to make her dream come true. With a little help from the airport Many believe her project was doomed, what with the

harsher international aviation rules and restrictions introduced after 11 September 2001. But Kærn defied all odds and predictions, and accomplished her mission, also with the help of Copenhagen Airport.

"After September 11, a lot of people told me that it would be impossible to fly to Afghanistan in a little propeller-driven aircraft. The trip would have been impossible without the help of Copenhagen Airport, who helped me contact the other airports. The airport people showed faith in my project and in me that allowed me to realise my dream," says Kærn, a graduate of the Art College of Copenhagen and the College of Fine Arts in London.

Nominated documentary

The adventure of the two globetrotters in a small plane is now a documentary entitled Smiling in a War Zone. The film has won several international awards, was sold to international TV stations all over the world, and has now been nominated for an international Emmy.

"The film came from the heart. It is a real-life adventure about how your dreams can become reality and how you can turn fear into art," says Kærn.

Kærn recently left for New York, where she will attend a gala ceremony on 19 November to announce the winner of the international Emmy. Before her departure, she held a press conference in the Copenhagen Airport hangar where today her 1961 Piper Colt sits, awaiting new adventures.