Ron Shoots

Today was just an air travel day- getting from Point A to B. Charlotte, NC to Orange County, CA. (Yesterday was actually the frantic travel day just getting to Charlotte from the coastal resort location after missing the ferry and having to take a much later one…) Heading towards home after 24 days on the road… The first flight to Dallas was uneventful and we arrived early. The weather report had possible storms in the afternoon forecast.

This is the sequence of events that would then transpire- actually pretty funny now!

- Boarding delayed 20 minutes due to late arrival of aircraft

- Takes a good 30 minutes to get to runway.

- Pilot announces up to 2 hour delay. The storm is approaching and the FAA tower is giving each take-off 50 miles of space between each aircraft!

- After 2 hours, we’re now 7th in line. About another hour. We inch forward.

- Yes, we’re #1 for take-off! Almost outa here after 3 hours! Pilot announces departure in 7 minutes.

- I look at the windsock, steady winds out of the south.

- I look at the windsock 2 minutes later. The wind is now out of the north… uh-oh! The skies are not only dark gray, they are that pre-storm ominous green.

- A split-second later I see an approaching plane do a “go-around” which is when they are about to land then pull up. I guess the wind shear is too strong.

- Pilot announces airport is now shut down, and we have to taxi to the other end to get ready for a northerly departure. We pass a line at least 2 miles long of other planes waiting.

- We wait, ready to go. Winds and rain are rocking our 737.

- Pilot announces we have been called back to the gate. We’ve now been sitting on the plane for 4 hours, and we’re headed back to the gate!

- We stop short of the gate. Because of all the lightning strikes, ramp personnel are not allowed to bring us to the gate. We wait 1 more hour.

- Finally, at the gate. Pilot announces that if we get off the plane that there are no flights available for at least 2 days, and not a single hotel room available. (OK, now this is getting exciting…. my driver’s license expires in 2 days so I won’t even have an ID to get on a plane if I’m stuck at DFW for 2 days! And I can’t exactly rent a car and drive to Maui!)

- Pilot announces that he and co-pilot are almost at the end of their “duty day” and there is no crew to fly the plane.

- Flight attendants announce limited food if we decide to stay aboard.

- Then we hear another announcement that the pilots are re-considering taking the flight to our intended destination. (This is the time when you begin to think about all those articles you’ve read on pilot fatigue…)

- The new plan is to take on more fuel, and get out of DFW as quickly as possible. The storm has mostly passed by now. We’ve been granted “Priority Taxi” rights… didn’t even know that existed. My guess is that these guys are going to crank up the airspeed and beat the speed record to the West Coast to stay under their hours.

- Next I see flight attendants carrying huge bags of McDonald’s pre-made salads aboard. Guess the food problem has been solved! (This is a first…)

- We’re on our way, to the cheers and clapping of all the passengers. Only we’ve been on the plane now for five and a half hours.

- A record time! I enjoyed my McDonald’s pre-made salad. I think they shaved at least 30 minutes off the estimated time and I know we were flying into strong headwinds. Gotta wonder how many extra pounds of fuel they burned.

- And yes, you guessed it! We’re at our destination, and there’s no one to meet the plane. Everyone’s busy on other flights. We wait another 10 minutes before we can pull up to the gate.

- I’m now approaching the exit to baggage claim when all the sirens go off and TSA shuts down the exit! Just a drill we’re told. Do not pass go, do not collect $200… just wait 2 minutes.

But my bags did arrive, last off the carrousel, but that’s fine. Safety is always first, and I got a lot of emails answered! With all the travel, I can only count serious delays a few times a year. The record was waiting out a storm for 8 hours in Montreal. So the next time someone mentions how traveling is so glamorous, could you please point them to this post!

(For the record… in the last 6 months, I’ve been stuck in a snow bank, had tire blow-out, and a near miss mid-air collision with a military jet. I gotta get a life…)