Plane Insane
It was a plane trip to remember.
In March, I flew from Fort Lauderdale to Providence with three stops in between. (Hey, it was the cheapest flight I could find!) The last leg of the trip reminded me very much of Nightmare at 20,000 Feet. I was half-expecting to see a gremlin on the wing of the plane
Here’s more notes:
-I saw a elderly woman in a wheelchair getting frisked by Homeland Security.
-After singing, the steward made a crack about pouring lemonade in our oxygen masks.
– I later realized that the priest came out of the bathroom, not the cockpit.
-After all the airline flights, I paid $220 for parking at Providence Airport.
-While in bed at home, it occurred to me that I might not really be alive after all.
If you have an airline travel tale please post your stories and comments. Please, no names!
May 28th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
I get to my gate and they load us on the plane. I can’t believe it’s not being cancelled.
There’s snow and 80 mph wind. We board the plane, we’re on the plane. All of a sudden, I look out the window, the whole airport is black. There was a blackout. The guys on the runway with the little flag things couldn’t even stand up. Pure ice out there, they were all slipping on the ice. if they had sails on … they’d be in New Mexico.
Then the pilot comes one, he says, “ Well I just want to keep you updated, what’s going on. it’s going to be some time before we take off. but we are going to take off.” They always have to go out and do a visual check of the plane, and while our co-pilot was going out there, the wind took the door and smashed his finger so he’s got to go get stitches. in the meantime, they had to de-ice the runway , get the plane de-iced, so these guys can get another visual check of the plane.
The person next to me was a 400 lb woman, stuffed into her chair. On the other side of me was my daughter’s kindergarten teacher So we had a really good time together. I turned to this huge woman sitting next to me, who was wearing a shocking pink fushia velour running suit, (what she’s running to, I have no idea.)
I’m Linda, who are you? I’m Ruby! Well hello Ruby.
We all became fast friends. Might as well get to know who we’re going to end our lives with. The plane is being tousled around back and forth from the wind. It’s like shaking back and forth, snow is flying over the wings. We start going down the runway. The blackout is still in the airport, generators are on, and the runway is lit up. What is going inside that airport I have no idea. No lights, the sky is black.
It took an hour. The pilot stops the plane on the runway and says we just wanna have one final check on the wings just to make sure that the ice is off. I was thinking to myself, what are they going to do, peek out the window?
Sure enough here comes the co-pilot guy with the splint on his middle finger, walking as proud has he possibly could, strutting his stuff down the aisle. He glanced out the window from the aisle,looks to the left, looks to the right, gave his nod of approval and take off is all in order.
We turn down the runway, we’re now right into the wind. Snowflakes are flying sideways past the window. We revved the engine up and we go down the runway. the plane lifts off like I never had a liftoff before. It was like a rocket going to the moon. Unbelieveable. We got above the clouds and saw the sun. it was the most magnificent sight I’d ever seen.
The whole plane let out this big sigh of relief
May 29th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Every single time my mother travels (which is always with us), I order wheelchair service for her. She’s 82. She’s in a wheelchair. And every single time, they frisk her, make her take her shoes off, and wave the magic wand over her. I’m surprised they don’t strip search her. It’s beyond annoying, it’s insulting–do they really think we feel safer because they scrutinize an 82-year old woman in a wheelchair?
June 1st, 2008 at 11:29 pm
I was pretty well sedated half an hour into my American Eagle flight from Raleigh to NYC, Then I felt a thud or shaking sensation on the left side of the plane. I noticed some kind of different motion but it seemed as though it was obviously not going.
OK. I was very calm and I didn’t say anything to anybody. A little bit later, the captain came on and said we’re experiencing engine trouble and we’re going to try to find a place to land.
So we ended up landing at Dover Airforce Base in Delaware. It was pretty smooth. When you get there, they let us all off into one area. Because we were civilians, they couldn’t let us wander around the Airforce Base.
They led us into a giant waiting room, a military cafeteria. Most people were kind of upset. We were all talking and that’s when I learned that not only that engine had gone out but the other engine was going out too. We were within minutes of losing both engines before he landed.
The captain, a Southern gentleman, was going around apologizing to everyone on behalf of the airlines and he comes up to me and said, ” I’m very sorry for
what happened” and I said “I thought it was very exciting. I enjoyed it!” Then he kind of gave me a look, and he just kept going.
June 21st, 2008 at 3:05 pm
When i was flying from Nebraska to New Jersey on New Years Eve the plane was hit by a celebratory bottle rocket explosion on the way down. Everyone cried because they thought it was a terrorist attempt on each of our lives. But pretty soon it was clear it was not, and only the smell of many (MANY) soiled pants remained as a silent reminder of our fear and anxiety. Actually, it might not have been on the Nebraska-New Jersey flight now that i think of it. Might have been Nebraska-New York (Kennedy Airport). No, it was Nebraska-New Jersey, i remember now. Though i’m not 100% sure. Let’s say i’m 90 percent sure it was Nebraska-New Jersey. Yes, that sounds about right. I would love to hear some more stories about planes!
July 8th, 2008 at 1:33 am
the video was funny! I can’t believe it!
I’ve been one of the lucky ones and have only beat my luggage to a destination.
November 21st, 2008 at 11:20 pm
[…] "In March, I flew from Fort Lauderdale to Providence with three stops in between. (Hey, it was the cheapest flight I could find!) The last leg of the trip reminded me very much of Nightmare at 20.000 Feet. I was half-expecting to see a gremlin on the wing of the plane." READ MORE. […]