Plane & Weather
SEALED IN A SARDINE CAN My wife and I took a round trip flight from L.A. to Bangkok on Thai Air. The flight to Thailand was marvelous! The food was superb, the service was excellent, and the plane, along with all the amenities, was great. However, the return trip was quite the opposite. Our plane was taken out of service about an hour before the flight, and was replaced by an un-prepped plane. This entire flight had NO air at all coming out of the vents, making the entire plane near boiling inside within a few hours, no DVD or music (20 hour n/s flight!), and to top it all off, the food was cold, old, and hard - almost not edible. This flight was like being sealed in a sardine can. I was so uncomfortable, I almost lost my temper. It took every cell in my body to not go crazy on this flight. After informing the airline of this unusual great/terrible r/t experience, they merely apologized. No discount offer, nothing. I was furious, and still am. 6/09 Signed, Larry Berg
LOSS OF FLUID NEARLY LEADS
TO LOSS OF LIFE
In the summer of 1977 I went to Norway with my parents to visit my father's family. At the tender age of almost 7 I had already made this same trip 3 other times in my life, and I thought flying was fun.
The trip to Norway was nothing to brag about, with TWA successfully sending our biggest suitcase to Switzerland for a couple extra days of sightseeing, before re-routing it back to us in Norway. This was an annoyance, but certainly not the end of the world.
A month later we were ready to head home to the US. Our first flight from Oslo to Copenhagen was completely normal. The afternoon flight from Copenhagen was to stop quickly in Shannon Ireland for a pilot change, before continuing on to New York. About 10 minutes into the flight, the pilot comes on to tell us that he have lost essentially all of our hydraulic fluid and will need to return to Copenhagen.
At this point in time we start circling Copenhagen over the water. They dump fuel and hand out a pillow to everyone on the plane. We are then instructed with the procedures of how to deal with a crash landing. "Put your head between your knees on the pillow" etc.
The pilots are busy literally cranking down the landing gear by hand up front. Every passenger on the plane is ghostly white, and here I am a 6 year old thinking this is the greatest adventure of my life. Finally, after an hour in the air, we land on a runway that is completely surrounded by emergency vehicles of every type. They had simply assumed we were crashing and were there with the foam and ambulances to clean up the mess.
We get towed back to our gate for repairs. Unfortunately, TWA elected not to let us out of the airplane. So here we have 150 people sitting in a no good airplane in 95 degree heat with nowhere to go for over 4 hours.
By the time the plane was repaired I was asleep. Too much excitement for a little guy. My parents tell me that we finally took off and made our way to Ireland. There we got to make exactly the same type of landing because the maintenance people in Copenhagen did not fix the problem correctly.
Thankfully passengers were allowed to leave the plane in Shannon. (I continued sleeping on the plane). We switched pilots in Shannon, and the new pilot made it clear he would not fly the plane without the problem being fixed.
The remainder of the flight was just fine, but I will never forget the day when I thought TWA was going to kill me. It took me 21 years to get on another plane owned by TWA. 5/09
PLANE'S WING KISSES THE CONCRETE
I was flying from Memphis, through Pittsburgh, on my way to ABE to attend my uncle's funeral. I was not in a particularly cheerful mood, especially since he was my only uncle and I loved him a lot. USAir had upgraded me to 1A and the flight was uneventful, although delayed out of Memphis because of a flat tire. Uneventful until we touched down in Pittsburgh. Suddenly the plane started vibrating, then shaking, then as I looked out the window, the right wing kissed the concrete in a shower of sparks. We skidded down the runway, sparks flying, tires screaming, folks hollering and feeling like we were in a mix-master until the plane came to a final stop. There was silence for a moment, eerie almost, until the captain ordered the doors open on the right side, chutes deployed and all passengers to exit. I was among the first off and helped other passengers get up and get moving at the bottom of the chute. I couldn't stop from looking over my shoulder every once in awhile at that wing, no more than a foot from the grass, still on the concrete. The entire landing gear assembly on that side was gone, lying in ditch back along the runway. I mean it broke right off! No wonder the wing tip was down. The pilot kept that wing away from the soft dirt and an almost certain cart wheel had the wing dug in. Quite a job of steering I'd say. While I have great admiration and thankfulness for that crew, USAir's maintenance is another story. And you know, after writing customer service and being an elite flyer on USAir at the time, I never heard a word from the airline. Hmmmm. 5/09
LINDA FLIES THE TURBULENT SKIES
I fly frequently coast to coast with my job, as a Computer Network Coordinator, so flying is no problem with me. I know to allow a lot of time for delays or whatever during the flight. My husband, although he was in the Air Force, does not like to fly...go figure.
Anyhow, we were going on a Caribbean Cruise for our Anniversary and had to fly from Pittsburgh, PA to Miami, FL to board our ship. This was to be his first flight in over 20 years. Well, we boarded the plane with no problems and amid great expectations. First of all, we sat on the tarmac for over an hour with no explanation as to why we had pulled away from the terminal. After about an hour sitting there, they cut off the AC and it began to get hot. They offered us a 'sip' of water and that was all. I questioned the attendant as to what the problem was, and of course she had no idea. Then we returned to the terminal and were told there was a weather related problem with landing, but we could not deplane or would not be allowed back on. Well needless to say, by this time the restrooms were beginning to have an odor all their own. This was an early morning flight and breakfast had long since worn off since we ate at the terminal because they no longer give you food onboard. Finally after about 2 hours on the plane - hot - tired and hungry we finally took off.
I had the window seat and my husband had the middle seat. There was a very nice gentleman seated in the aisle seat. As we began to taxi the runway, we hear overhead, "Thank you for flying US Air. My name is 'Linda' and I will be your pilot today." My husband looks dumb struck -- and a bit too loudly says, "Oh crap, we're done for." The gentleman beside him leans over to look at me with a panicked look on his face that seemed to say, maybe they know something I don't!
As we approached Jacksonville, FL "Linda" announced that there was turbulent weather over the Jacksonville area and we would be flying around the storm. My husband says "See, I told you!" at which point I said, "Yes, thank God for 'Linda' because a 'Larry' would have probably tried to go straight through the storm."
When we got to Miami, we had to circle because the airport had nowhere for us to deplane. ALL THE GATES WERE FULL DUE TO THE BACKUP IN FLIGHTS!!! So once we landed, we sat for another hour waiting to get off! When we deplaned, I asked the attendant why did we take off from Pittsburgh if they knew we would have to wait in Miami? Her answer was, "Well you never know what might open up"!! What did she mean - were they waiting for a plane to go down or something?
Her flip response was more worrisome than anything! 5/09
SOAKED FROM A LEAKING RESTROOM
In June 2000, I was flying back from Helsinki, Finland, to New York LaGuardia. It was quite a large plane that had two "sections" of coach class, separated by a pair of restrooms. I was seated in the first row behind those restrooms. Since it was a long 7-8 hour flight, I decided to make myself comfortable: I grabbed a pillow and blanket, and slipped off my shoes to relax in my sock-feet.
Much to my surprise, I awakened from my sleep to find that my socks were soaking wet. I looked down and noticed that the carpet at my feet was saturated. Thinking, perhaps, a drink had been spilled, I looked around for an empty cup, but found none.
I bent down to smell my sock-feet (somehow I thought it was smart to smell them!) and they reeked of urine! I got out of my seat and smelled the saturated floor.... Urine!
Wow, this was absolutely disgusting. I sat for quite a while, debating whether to make a stink (no pun intended!) about this, but realized that a leaking restroom was clearly unacceptable. I notified a flight attendant, who also proceeded to sniff the floor, and she was horrified. She apologized profusely and said she would notify the rest of the staff, the pilot, and her management when they landed.
Much to my surprise, the pilot personally approached me at the end of the flight and presented me with two bottles of wine. I was also contacted by the airline a few days later and given a pass for a free ticket to anywhere in the lower 48 states.
Pretty good customer service considering the situation. I wish the airlines were always like this!!!5/09
SHOULD I CALL MY HUSBAND NOW?
I was travelling between Louisville and Chicago - left Louisville on an early morning flight. There was a huge thunderstorm between the two cities. As we got close to Chicago, the turbulence was horrible. I really thought this was it - that we were all goners. The pilot had the flight attendants and passengers remain seated for about the last 45 minutes of the flight. We landed safely and I thanked the pilot as I left the plane.
On the return trip to Louisville that afternoon with the same flight crew, the thunderstorm had moved South, toward Louisville. I knew I should have spent the night in Chicago! Anyway, as we got close to Louisville, the pilot had everyone return to their seats - we were going to hit a little bit of turbulence. Not a minute later, the pilot came back on the speaker and said "Everyone sit down NOW. It's going to get really damn rough up here." About that time, a flight attendant was walking down the aisle close to me. She went flying into the air and landed on her butt on the floor next to me when the turbulence hit. She grabbed the armrests on either side of the aisle and stayed put. I looked at her and asked - "So should I call my husband and tell him I love him?" She cracked up laughing - probably from stress but it did help ease the tension of the passengers. Obviously, we made it home safely. 5/09
BATHROOM FIASCO
I don't remember where I was flying to but it was from Louisville. I was in the bathroom when the pilot announced that all passengers must take their seats as we were heading into some turbulence. Before I had a chance to finish up, we hit that turbulence. I bounced up, hit my head on the ceiling and landed sprawled on the floor with my face in the toilet. I have no idea how my body got twisted around like that - I felt like a contortionist.
People must have heard the commotion in the bathroom because when I came out, the people on the aisle in the last couple of rows of seats all turned to look at me. Hmmm, not sure if it was the noise my body made slamming into the roof or floor or if it was the loud "HOLY SHIT" coming from my mouth they heard. 4/09
ride from hell TURNS INTO
bulimia convention
In 1993 I was headed from Tucson to the American Library Association conference in New Orleans. I was ticketed on a flight that stopped at DFW where I was to change planes on to New Orleans. About an hour after takeoff from Tucson the captain announced that because of severe weather surrounding DFW the airport had been closed to takeoffs an landings and we would hold in the pattern until things had cleared up a bit and the airport was re-opened. So here we are circling with all the other delayed flights through the very, VERY rough weather that was preventing our landing... NOT comfortable... quite rough.
After about 3 hours of this e-ticket roller coaster ride from hell the captain announced that as our aircraft was getting low on fuel and the airport was not yet reopened he had to find a place to land... he found a place to land ... at the small Pecos Texas airport...
Land we did... along with 35 other out of fuel heavies that had been inbound to DFW. The problem was that there was only ONE avgas tanker truck and only room for a few planes of size at the terminal. Like many of the other aircraft ours ended up on the ground on a taxiway in the heat and humidity. The aircraft's AC was off along with its engines so we deplaned using the rear exit and sat on the taxiway or as I did sat on the front nose gear wheel talking with the pilot. We were not allowed to walk away from the plane and we were 300 yards from the terminal building.
About 4 hours into this charming 6 hour experience a truck from a well-known pizza place showed up and dumped about 25 large pizzas off for the cast and crew and everyone chowed down as we waited for (1) the DFW airport to re-open and (2) the small avgas fuel tanker truck to wend its way toward our aircraft and its now motley and ill-tempered group. Remember we were only one of some 37 aircraft now sitting on the taxiways all over the Pecos airport/stagecoach stop.
Finally after 6 hours on the ground our aircraft was refueled and DFW was reopened to incoming traffic. We took off towards DFW and into now clear skies and also into the very worst clear air turbulence I have ever encountered. Our aircraft was bounced all over the sky. You could see the craft's wings bowing up and down. The only thing that went up faster than the aircraft was all of that pizza the passengers had so greedily devoured on the ground. It was like a bulimia convention. When people weren't screaming in panic they were projectile vomiting all over the aircraft. I was a private pilot and had flown aerobatics but the turbulence was rough even for me. I never get airsick... but the cacophony of crying, retching coupled with the wonderful smell almost got me to hurl. The woman beside me was saying the rosary and vomiting... few were using barf bags as they were too busy keeping a death grip on their seats... the fellow behind me kept screaming "I don't want to DIE" while clutching my seatback so hard I feared he might rip it off. After an hour of this I DID want to die. When we finally landed at DFW and deplaned people could SMELL the flight for at least half the concourse. I still don't exactly remember how I got to New Orleans.... but I will NEVER forget that flight. 11/08
FRIGID FLIGHT
This was the proverbial flight from hell that put me off flying for several years. Back in the mid 80’s I was returning to Calgary from Ottawa during a long cold winter. Waiting to board I watched them de-ice the plane as it must have been at least -20C. Once on board there seemed to be an unusual long delay during which there was a constant din of cargo containers being banged about. The pilot then announced there was a delay in taking off as the plane was overloaded and cargo was being removed.
The snow was starting to come down pretty heavy when we finally pulled away from the gate and got into the long take off queue. Settling back I waited for the DC-10 to crank up its notoriously underpowered engines, brakes off, and the usual sluggish start down the runway. The seconds slowly ticked by as we crawled along just not picking up any speed. After what seemed to be way too long a taxis I glanced across at my fellow passenger sitting by the window and he returned the same concerned look. The nose inched up and suddenly I saw out of the window the perimeter fence at the end of the runway – we must have just scrapped past it! Then BANG and a loud swoosh of air escaping from the overhead vents. A split second later one wing dipped, the plane shuddered and started that terrifying slow pendulum swing – that’s it were done, were going down. And then those frantic seconds of family, what ifs, goodbyes flashed through my head – damn I didn’t pay with a credit card that automatically provides flight insurance!
The swinging slowed but the roaring of the engines didn’t as we just weren’t gaining altitude. The passengers remained deathly quiet. I got the courage to peek out of the window after what seemed like an hour. Below were white snowy covered forests and to my horror I could clearly make out car headlights streaming down a freeway. At last the pilot announced with the usual cheery voice – sorry about that, we blew an air conditioner when we took off, for the rest of the flight I will try to keep you from freezing. Hell, what about the plane being overloaded, iced up, and why are my now frozen feet stuck to the floor? A blissfully cheery flight attendant then announced the liquor beverage service would be free on today’s flight. As the cart was being pushed down the aisle passengers were grabbing bottles. The free booze just kept me warm enough but didn’t console my now fear of flying. 10/08
OVERLOADED & UNDERSERVED
This isn't my experience, but it was shared with me the other day by a couple I know.
They are both disabled and cannot drive, and they were going to a banquet in a city four hours' drive to the south of ours. They took another friend with them to assist them. They flew American, because that is the only carrier to fly out of our local airport.
Their flights there apparently went smoothly, but their flight back to our town was delayed and they were bumped to a flight that was full of airmen going back to the Air Force base in our town. The plane model our airport has is one of the smaller ones that American Eagle uses, and they overloaded the plane with the airmen and their equipment so much that the other passengers had to have their luggage put on another flight. I want to mention here that one time, they landed a 747 with the space shuttle at our airport, so the runway is big enough for a larger plane. I have seen American "upgrade" planes for overbooked flights before and it would have made sense for them to do it in this instance too.
When it came time for takeoff, the pilot had trouble. Apparently the plane was overloaded. My friends started praying and the plane managed to get off the ground.
It was only an hour-long flight (if that), and when they landed there wasn't the little bounce. They landed with a solid "thunk." Then they had to land at the Air Force Base and the plane ended up taxiing for 15 minutes. When they were finally able to deplane, it turned out that American lost some of the airmen's luggage as well. They told my friends and the unfortunate airmen to return that night to get their luggage as it arrived on another flight. 10/08
ONLY IN THE CARIBBEAN!
In the 1980's I was on a flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Miami. We had boarded, and as they pulled the enclosed walkway from the plane, they noticed that the aircraft had been damaged by the walkway used in New Jersey. Even though the plane had made the flight safely, they couldn't let it leave San Juan without it being repaired. We were informed that we could get off the plane & wait in the terminal, or remain on the plane as we wouldn't be able to deplane during the repairs. The worst thing was when they said that the mechanic had GONE HOME TO GET HIS TOOLS! We sat in the hot plane for 2 hours....talk about being nervous on the flight home! 10/08
EARTHQUAKE IN THE SKY
I don't fly much, maybe two or three times a year tops. I flew to Florida this year to be in my best friend from high school's beach wedding in June. I flew with Air Tran from Philadelphia and I had a stop in Atlanta. I should say here I NEVER have any issues at all with Air Tran - the staff is always courteous, the flight crews are excellent and the flights are usually uneventful. Atlanta, on the other hand, is a different story - something weird always seems to happen to me when I'm going through Atlanta. This trip was no different.
The flight down was quiet and everything was going fine until I had to try and switch terminals in Atlanta. That's a different story for a different time. My issue here was the way back. My friend got married in Ft. Myers on the Gulf of Mexico. The weather was alternately cloudy and sunny, with some rainy times during the few days I was there. Flying back to Philly, the weather was a tad cloudy and not raining at all when we took off - perfect for flying. Or so I thought.
We went out over the Gulf heading to Atlanta for our lay over. This is where the trouble starts. About an hour into the flight, the plane starting shaking - a little turbulence, no problem. The shaking gets worse; they put on the seatbelt sign. By this point, I'm starting to get a little nervous and I turn off my MP3 player. Then the plane suddenly dips - big time. The girl next to me nearly got smashed in the face with her own lap top. Next thing I know, the flight attendants are wrestling the beverage carts back into the galleys and strapping themselves in.
For about twenty or thirty minutes, being on that plane was like being strapped to a chair in the middle of a massive earthquake. The plane dropped a few times, the pilots kept making re-assuring announcements, etc. Turns out we had hit a really nasty storm flying out over the Gulf of Mexico and were trying to fly our way out of it.
When we finally got to Atlanta, we hit the runway kind of hard and the pilots slammed on the brakes - throwing everything forward in the overhead bins and getting a chorus of colorful language from the adults onboard.
By that point, I was seriously debating the merits of renting a car and driving back home rather than getting on my connecting flight to Philly. I got off the plane shaking so bad I had issues getting my cell phone open. I didn't know whether I was going to start crying right there or throw up. I talked to my mom (I'm 30-years-old and not in the least bit ashamed I called my mommy) and she calmed me down after about ten minutes, convincing me to get on the next plane. Thankfully, it was a blissfully smooth flight. 9/08
OXYGEN MASKS DEPLOYED
My husband and I had planned a quick 3 day trip over 4th of July weekend to Las Vegas. Our flight on Alaska Airlines from Seattle to Vegas was delayed over an hour due to mechanical issues. Finally they board the plane, close the doors and were almost ready to go when apparently there was an issue with the AC that had to be corrected; they decided to do this repair while passengers were on the plane delaying us another hour or so.
Finally the plane is ready to take off...up and out of Seattle things are smooth and all of a sudden all of the oxygen masks deploy. Talk about an eerie silence as nervous people were looking around at each other. After what seemed like forever the pilot finally announced that this was real and to put on your masks, the whole procedure. In the meantime the plane was making a rapid decent. We were on an MD80 and all I could think about was the crash Alaska Airlines had a few years back on the same aircraft type. At this point the flight attendants were walking up and down with portable oxygen tanks making sure people were breathing OK and their masks were working.
After the pilot got below 10,000 feet they finally came back on to tell us that the cabin had lost air pressure, causing the masks to deploy and the need for the rapid decent. Needless to say we made an emergency landing in Klamath Falls OR which was not even equipped to handle jets much less the 150 passengers on board.
This turned into a 10 hour delay as we had to wait for a new aircraft which came rather quickly, but because of one of the flight attendant's refusals to get on the new aircraft another one had to be flown in to take her place. The Red Cross came to the airport to offer support and bring lunch; the airport was so small people were laying on the floors and sitting outside because there weren't enough chairs.
Finally we made it to Vegas safely and Alaska Airlines compensated each passenger with a free roundtrip ticket for future travel.
Very scary, and although I am a nervous flier, it has not stopped me from traveling and I still love Alaska Airlines and am a frequent flyer. 7/08
RETURN FROM PARADISE
My husband, two kids (12 and 14) and I flew from Hartford to Honolulu to visit my family this March. I am a nervous flier, but I had been noticing that my daughter was picking up on it and somehow managed to convince myself, along with her, that it was okay to just 'give up control' and that flying really is statistically quite safe. (I'm a math professor, so you'd think I'd really get that!) Anyhow, I did quite well on the flights to Honolulu - via O'Hare. I was quite proud of myself. We had a wonderful vacation. It was the return trip that caused me concern.
We left Honolulu at 5:00 p.m. Hawaii time, after a forty-five minute delay, and arrived in O'Hare at 5:30 a.m. Chicago time. No problem. Our flight to Hartford was scheduled for 7:10 a.m. and we boarded at 6:40. No problem. There was an announcement that we would have a short delay while the mechanics took a look at something or other - I was so tired I didn't pay much attention to this. Same thing had happened on the flight from Honolulu. Still, no problem.
At 7:30 or so, we finally backed away from the gate and the flight attendants started their thing about the life rafts and oxygen masks. As one attendant read the card, the other would go up and down the aisles - you know the drill. The lights started flickering and the microphone went on and off as she spoke. The one in the aisle kept a poker face and kept doing her thing, but between sentences you could hear the attendant who was narrating mutter "I don't like this!" The lights went out towards the end and the safety lights along the floor switched on. Meanwhile, you could hear muffled exclamations from the cockpit. Um, problem!
The attendant kept reading from her card, and concluded with, "If you have any questions regarding the safety of this aircraft, please contact a flight attendant." I raised my hand, and she hurried over to assure me that the engines could generate power when we got them started, and while it was nice to have the auxiliary power, it wasn't really necessary. I figured - okay, maybe it's like jump-starting a car - still not exactly reassuring. Then there was the distinct odor of burning wire/plastic. At this, the flight attendant went up and pounded on the cockpit door, saying, "We're smelling some heat out here!" And the pilot replied, "Yeah, we're smelling it, too."
The pilot came on to announce that we would be pulling back to the gate (we hadn't moved more than twenty feet - or maybe they just retracted the tunnel) so that we could get out while they fixed the problem. Then he came back on a second later to say, "Folks, take all of your belongings. We don't like the looks of this aircraft, so we'll be getting a new plane for the flight."
By now, my fear of flying reasserted itself, though it was dulled considerably by exhaustion. We went back into the waiting area, and my daughter and I parked ourselves in front of the window to wait and see if they really did give us a different aircraft. I looked longingly at the shiny new white and blue planes. Every flight we had been on was an ancient, patched-up looking craft. The windows didn’t match; the engines were different colors. They were the very ones that I took back when I was in college, I’m sure. I now call them “Franken-planes”.
After an hour, the desk attendant (who wasn't told a thing, I don't think), announced that there wasn't a new plane, but they would be getting a new part from the hangar.
Another hour went by. The desk clerk, who was the nicest person, then announced that they had installed the part, and that we would be boarding in a few minutes. At this, the pilot went over and took her aside, where I could overhear him telling her NOT to let anyone board until he had a chance to test the equipment for himself. I loved that pilot!
Well, we watched him and the flight crew board, they spent a couple of minutes on the plane, then they came walking quickly off, left the gate and disappeared down the terminal. The desk clerk then told us to move over to another gate where another flight to Hartford was about to board. They were going to do a “consolidation”, they told us.
What this meant was that the person at the desk frantically rerouted the 120 passengers that were still left at this point. A few made it onto the next flight – as did our luggage – we watched it take off half an hour later. People went to Albany, Boston, or whatever other airport they were willing to go to. We were so exhausted, we asked if we could be put into a hotel and just get a flight the next morning. The clerk said no problem, gave us hotel vouchers, but couldn’t find another flight until 7:00 p.m. the following day – 36 hours after our original flight. We agreed to this, and waited while she then proceeded to issue us food vouchers – good for 24 hours – worth on average $5 per meal per person.
So we spent a day and a half in Chicago, at a very nice hotel. So nice that an apple cost $2.00 and with a teenage son it was impossible to eat five meals on $15 per person, total! Oh, and it cost us $74 in phone bills just to contact our boss, pet-sitter, my daughter’s school, and my mother.
We had also left our jackets in our luggage, so we wandered the streets of Chicago in flip-flops and tee shirts. We did meet very many nice people, and were greatly impressed with the Chicago transit system.
The next night our flight was delayed, but only by a mere hour and fifteen minutes. When we got into Hartford at midnight (51 hours after leaving Honolulu) we went to the baggage area and found our luggage sitting out in the middle of the floor. I laughed at the ridiculousness of it all – but wait! The topper was when a security person came running out and demanded the baggage receipts (which I have NEVER needed). I naturally couldn’t locate them, but she finally settled on checking our licenses. Oh, no, that wasn’t the most ridiculous thing – the really funny part was that she made a big deal of checking our licenses, but didn’t compare them to the actual names on the bags. Or maybe they had just been sitting there for so long, she knew them well and was waiting for us…
So, I learned that choosing the airline – United, by the way - which has the absolute minimum flying time to Honolulu is NOT the best strategy! 3/08
CRYING AND WAILING IN TEXAS
My wife, 10 month old daughter and I boarded a flight that was to take us from Seattle non stop to Dallas in the fall. The approximately 2 1/2 - 3 hour flight left the ground at about 2 pm and we were on our way without any problems. Just before we got to Dallas we were turned away because of bad thunderstorms in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. We flew around a while and they tried again, but to no avail. At this point we had been in the air probably 4 hours and were flying through these storms. The plane lurched violently up and down as the lightning crashed around us and the whine from the engines went up and down as we climbed and descended. At this point they decided to abandon the effort and redirected us to Abilene, Texas where we landed.
Our aircraft was too large for their gates, so we parked out in the field and they shut the plane down (no lights, heat, nothing, and we sat there in the dark as the storm pounded away outside). After about a half an hour a fuel truck showed up and proceeded to fuel us, but when lightning showed up, he beat a hasty retreat and left us out there again. The captain apparently ordered pizzas as before long they were passing boxes up the aisle and everyone settled down from the delay. Eventually they fueled us and sent us on our way back to Dallas, only to be turned away once again and fly through a violent storm. At this point people were crying and wailing in panic as they steered us toward Houston only to head back towards Dallas after an hour or so. We eventually landed, very roughly, and were on our way 13 HOURS from when we left Seattle! Amazingly, our little girl took it all in stride without a hitch. 12/07
TORNADO ON THE RUNWAY
As a freshman in college a few years ago, I became extremely homesick within the first two days. I wanted to go home, but my mom promised me that if I stayed a while to give it a chance, she would visit me the following month. We booked flights for her that night. So mid-September comes around, and I am anxiously awaiting my mother's arrival. The flight from D.C. to Ohio takes about an hour, with another hour's drive afterwards. Just before my mom's flight was to board, I called and made sure everything was set. She mentioned thunderstorms in the area, which were caused by Hurricane Ivan. But living within sight of Dulles' runways, we frequently see planes landing in the worst conditions imaginable, so I wasn't worried, even though my mother's flight was on a small commuter jet.
Several minutes later my sister called to ask if our mom's flight had taken off, and when I said I wasn't sure, she said the storms at home and around the airport were deteriorating quickly. I called my mom's cell. While we were talking (she was in line on the runway and hadn't been told to turn it off yet), I heard the chimes over the phone indicating that the pilot wanted to say something. Suddenly my mom said, "I have to go. I love you." The line went dead.
A few hours later she landed in Ohio, and I was never happier to hear her voice (except perhaps on 9/11) than I was right then. She told me that when we were talking, the pilot had informed them that if they looked out the window, they could see a tornado on the runway. The control tower was evacuated, and they had no option but to zigzag and try to escape the tornado's path. I was glad she hadn't told me that until the flight had landed safely!
It wasn't until later that night that I learned how lucky she was. Before coming into the airport, the tornado had gone down the street I live on, taking a few houses with it. Just two houses down, there was an empty lot with some debris where a house once stood. My street was on the front page of the Washington Post the following day. I will NEVER get on a plane when there's a hurricane again. Looking back, it sounds obvious, but I trusted the people in charge. Next time, maybe not so much. 12/07
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