Plagiarizing Mr. Underachiever
Well, I haven't met this unknown Blogger, but I have been lacking creativity lately and he has offered some ideas. The Underachiever's Corner is a fun blog. The author is a funny (haha) guy and he offers a great wealth of blogging ideas.
The latest idea is to answer the question "If you were to die tonight, what would you regret not saying to someone and why?" And he invited us to answer either in his comment section or on our blogs...hence this post!
Well, many of you may have heard this story...suck it up and keep reading! I was on a business trip to Atlanta last summer (2004). Flying from Hartford, CT. I have flown quite often and this was a quick flight with nothing to worry about (or so I thought). I had never been on this specific type of plane. This one had 3 seats on one side of the aisle and 2 on the other. This still wasn't an issue for me. Big, little, short, tall, I had no fear of flying.
The majority of the flight was fine. It was slated to be about 2 hour and 15 minute flight from gate to gate. About 1.5 hours into it, I feel some air rushing up from the seat in front of me. For those of you that don't fly often, this isn't a normal occurrence but I just chalked it up to being a different type of plane.
About 5-10 minutes later (give or take) the oxygen masks fall from the panel above for what seemed to be no apparent reason. Neither the pilots nor flight attendants explained what was going on so we didn't have a clue. Most of us, after looking around at each other, grabbed the masks and put them on.
You don't realize how well you pay attention to the safety talks at the beginning of flights until you have to put it into action. "Put the mask over your nose and mouth; pull the elastic strings to tighten. The bag may not inflate but it is still working. Make sure you are set before you help others." Once my mask was on, I checked on the 14 year old kid next to me. He was fine.
I then looked out the window.
Bad idea.
We were in a 45 degree dive (at least). I had the kid close the shade, because I would have otherwise freaked out...not the best thing to do in a situation like this.
We were in that dive for what seemed like eons. It was probably only 15 -20 seconds. But it was long enough to make me really scared.
****Answer to UNDR's question here****
As we were in the steep descent, I realized who I had unfinished business with. Many of my mother's family and a couple of high school friends were the first to pop into my mind. God also was on the list...ironically he was at the top.
We finally leveled out and the pilot got on the intercom and said (I will never forget this) "Ladies and Gentleman, thank you for your cooperation. There is nothing physically wrong with the plane. We just lost cabin pressure." To me...losing cabin pressure means there is something wrong with the plane - but I am no airplane mechanic so who knows!
The end of the story is that at 42,000 feet the pressurization 'stuff' started to let go. The pilot dropped 5,000 feet to see if it would alleviate itself, but that is when it let go all together. He had to dive to under 10,000 feet so we could fly with out external oxygen - hence the quick descent.
We made it off the plane alright and many of us actually did kiss the floor of the terminal when we got there.
The hotel I stayed in had me on the 43rd floor - I asked to be moved to a lower floor for obvious reasons. I did get back on a plane to fly home, and have traveled since, but certainly not without hesitation.
That is my story and I am sticking to it.
The latest idea is to answer the question "If you were to die tonight, what would you regret not saying to someone and why?" And he invited us to answer either in his comment section or on our blogs...hence this post!
Well, many of you may have heard this story...suck it up and keep reading! I was on a business trip to Atlanta last summer (2004). Flying from Hartford, CT. I have flown quite often and this was a quick flight with nothing to worry about (or so I thought). I had never been on this specific type of plane. This one had 3 seats on one side of the aisle and 2 on the other. This still wasn't an issue for me. Big, little, short, tall, I had no fear of flying.
The majority of the flight was fine. It was slated to be about 2 hour and 15 minute flight from gate to gate. About 1.5 hours into it, I feel some air rushing up from the seat in front of me. For those of you that don't fly often, this isn't a normal occurrence but I just chalked it up to being a different type of plane.
About 5-10 minutes later (give or take) the oxygen masks fall from the panel above for what seemed to be no apparent reason. Neither the pilots nor flight attendants explained what was going on so we didn't have a clue. Most of us, after looking around at each other, grabbed the masks and put them on.
You don't realize how well you pay attention to the safety talks at the beginning of flights until you have to put it into action. "Put the mask over your nose and mouth; pull the elastic strings to tighten. The bag may not inflate but it is still working. Make sure you are set before you help others." Once my mask was on, I checked on the 14 year old kid next to me. He was fine.
I then looked out the window.
Bad idea.
We were in a 45 degree dive (at least). I had the kid close the shade, because I would have otherwise freaked out...not the best thing to do in a situation like this.
We were in that dive for what seemed like eons. It was probably only 15 -20 seconds. But it was long enough to make me really scared.
****Answer to UNDR's question here****
As we were in the steep descent, I realized who I had unfinished business with. Many of my mother's family and a couple of high school friends were the first to pop into my mind. God also was on the list...ironically he was at the top.
We finally leveled out and the pilot got on the intercom and said (I will never forget this) "Ladies and Gentleman, thank you for your cooperation. There is nothing physically wrong with the plane. We just lost cabin pressure." To me...losing cabin pressure means there is something wrong with the plane - but I am no airplane mechanic so who knows!
The end of the story is that at 42,000 feet the pressurization 'stuff' started to let go. The pilot dropped 5,000 feet to see if it would alleviate itself, but that is when it let go all together. He had to dive to under 10,000 feet so we could fly with out external oxygen - hence the quick descent.
We made it off the plane alright and many of us actually did kiss the floor of the terminal when we got there.
The hotel I stayed in had me on the 43rd floor - I asked to be moved to a lower floor for obvious reasons. I did get back on a plane to fly home, and have traveled since, but certainly not without hesitation.
That is my story and I am sticking to it.
posted by Liz at 1:52 PM
1 Comments:
i also heard undr is funny in the non-haha way. :)
Post a Comment
<< Home