Thursday Ramble: Weird Airline Adventures

My first airline flight was in the spring of 1977, but most of them have been in the past 25 years.  And there have been a lot of them.  I have not kept track, it would be fun if I had.  I have had a few weird things happen while flying.  Here are a few of the stories. 

I changed planes in Charlotte, North Carolina early one morning.  I had come in on an overnight flight from Las Vegas, I had flown to Las Vegas from Anchorage, Alaska.  My flight from Charlotte was to Lexington, Kentucky on a small regional jet.  It was one were you walked out at ground level and climbed the stairs built in the door on the plane.  We boarded, I was talking with the guy next to me, he was flying to Lexington to take delivery of a car he had bought online and drive it home, a Mustang as I recall.  The plane started to push back and it went bump.  I had backed over a trash can with my car once, it felt like that. The plane pulled forward about five feet, backed up again and this time I could hear  metal tearing. The plane stopped, the Captain slammed open cockpit door, opened the plane door and stormed off shouting "what in the hell have you done to my airplane!"  We had backed into another airplane, wing tip to wing tip, the second push back had torn the wing tips on both planes. 

I was flying home from San Francisco, my first trip on free seats from frequent flyer miles.  I was watching one of the lethal weapon movies, on pay-per-view.  I don't know which one, it was the one were they imploded the old Orlando city hall.  I was living in Orlando when it was filmed.  The mayor played the police chief on that scene. It bugged me that city hall was as old as I was, and they were tearing it down.  Suddenly over Texas the movie stopped, all of the lights in the cabin went out. A minute later, the Captain came on, saying that we would be landing in Dallas in just a few minutes, two of the three electrical generators had failed. We went from 38,000 feet to on the ground in Dallas in less than 10 minutes.  When we pulled up to the gate, there was smoke coming out of one of the engines.  I made it home the next day. 

I was flying home from Orlando, Florida, changing planes in Atlanta.  We boarded, settled in, and there was this bang and the plane shook from side to side.  The baggage conveyor had slammed into the side of the plane.  Maintenance was called and there was a dent in the side of the plane.  We got off, being asked to please stay in the gate area.  About half an hour later, the Pilot came to the desk and picked up the microphone, explaining what had happened.  The plane had been checked by mechanics, and a conversation was held with the engineers at Boeing.  They had determined that the plane was safe to fly, and they were going to continue the flight.  Anyone who didn't want to continue would be re-accommodated. I appreciated the empty seat next to me as I made my way home an hour or so late.  

I was flying home from Athens, Greece, changing planes in New York. I was connecting in New York, to Cincinnati and then connecting there to go to Lexington, Kentucky. We boarded the plane to leave New York and settled in.  There was this loud thud.  After a few minutes the flight crew came on with an explanation.  The ground crew had started to push the plane back, before the brakes had been released and the shear pin in the push back connection had done its job and broken.  The technicians had checked the front landing gear and the plane was fine, but they needed to get a replacement for the push-back bar - that took about 40 minutes.  I missed my connection for the last flight onto Lexington, Kentucky.  There was an airline representative near baggage claim.  She said I have two options, a hotel voucher and the first flight in the morning,  or taxi voucher, for the 90 mile trip to Lexington. I opted for the taxi.  I got out front and there was an older couple there.  I offered to share the taxi.  They got in the back seat and couldn't make the seat belts work, got mad, got out and left.  I had a nice ride on to Lexington.  

I was flying from Lansing, Michigan to Detroit, then onto Washington DC from Detroit.  Lansing is about 75 miles from Detroit, and is a small airport, another small commuter jet.  We boarded, and then unboarded.  A few minutes later the pilot came into the boarding area to explain. Sitting still on the ground, the plane was indicating that one of the landing gear was retracted.  Obviously it was not, a sensor or switch had failed.  They had talked to engineering and there were two options, wait 2 or 3 hours for someone to come over from Detroit with replacement parts and a screwdriver, or lock the gear down and fly the plane to Detroit, where the repair could be made while the baggage was being unloaded. The catch was the plane would be low and slow, not over 10,000 feet and not over 200 miles per hour, it would take 30 minutes instead of 20 and would be a little noisy.  If you wanted to make other plans see the desk, if you want to board please do so quickly we are ready to fly.  It was a fun flight, you can see a lot at 5-6-thousand feet.  

The flight from Las Vegas to Charlotte had an interesting start.  I had already been traveling for hours, when I changed planes in Las Vegas at midnight.  We were pretty much boarded when there was a commotion. An extended family had been in Las Vegas for a wedding and were headed home to North Carolina.  Apparently Bobby-Joe had indulged in a few to many drinks, and the gate attendant denied him boarding.  His mother was on the plane and in near hysterics - how could they "leave Bobby-Joe behind in Sin-City!" They escorted Bobby-Joe on the plane and he explained to momma, that he would be just fine, he would go sleep it off and be on a plane first thing in the morning. She wept, the airline offered to let her stay over and fly with him in the morning, but she said no. He left he plane, with a smile on his face, and she wept for the first hour of the flight, then fell silently asleep.  

I was flying from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Bismarck, North Dakota. Bismarck may be the capital of North Dakota, but it is a small city, with a small airport - and at the point serviced by small twin turboprop airplanes.  We took off, headed west on what should have been a 60 minute flight, then we went south, then west, then north, then east, and about two hours later as we were landing the pilot explained that we had diverted around a thunderstorm, the smaller plane was not capable of flying up and over it, it had to fly around it. 

I ran through the airport in Nashville one night, to find the gate closed on the last flight to Lexington, Kentucky.  The gate agent went down, knocked on the door, the flight attendants opened the door and let me on.  The only time I have ever seen the door re-opened, I have stood in the terminal and watched my flight back away from the gate (I try to avoid short connection times.) 

Having grown up around little airplanes, little airports, airplane mechanics, avionics technicians, and lots and lots of pilots, nothing really bothers me.  They are professionals.  They don't fly unless they are sure it is safe.  My father was a licensed commercial pilot who never flew professionally.  He flew for the love it, added the licenses because he wanted to improve his skills.