Let’s start by saying I am not in any way a nervous flier. There are some things that come with getting to your destination quickly and bouncing around in the sky is one of them. I’ve flown hundreds of times and actually kind of strangely enjoy mild to moderate turbulence (weeeeeeeeeeee!)
My flight this weekend wasn’t so amusing. First and foremost, it was pouring rain when we left. Sure indicator of a bumpy flight. Our flight out of town had been bumpy – super bumpy – but I was still able to catch a nap. Like I said, turbulence just doesn’t bother me. I expected bumps on this flight, and I expected they would be big. We took off and sure enough, we got rattled around pretty well. I saw some dude’s coffee come flying up, but to me that’s not an indication of a problem. It really just means you shouldn’t have drinks out during takeoff. It was bumpier than normal, and there were points in time where my alert system was pinged. Not scared at this point. Just on alert. A few more (big) bumps, and I heard a few women scream. Seriously ladies? Yes we are being blown around more than “normal” but let’s not lose it.
The combination of my alerts being raised and plain curiosity led me to brush up on the bracing positions we might take, should things take a turn for the worse. Pretty standard/nothing new. Then like clockwork, the plane hit cruising altitude and smoothed out. See ladies? Nothing to fret about. The flight attendants had taken orders prior to takeoff, and I was immediately handed a Diet Coke. Sweeeeeeet. Something told me I should hurry with it, so I chugged about 3/4 of it. Good thing too, cuz as soon as I stopped drinking, our plane dropped.
one-one-thousand-two-one-thousand
We stopped free-falling, probably because we were now bouncing side to side. My drink flew out of my hand, I hit my head multiple times on the window, and I heard a repeated KABOOM! in the back galley. Drinks and food were flying around. I heard someone come on the loud speaker saying something to the effect of “if you’re in an aisle seat and have an empty one next to you, move into it so the flight attendants can take yours.” I saw a minor shuffling of people, and three flight attendants picked themselves up off the cabin floor and took economy seats. Oh, and they didn’t leave said seats until we landed. At another point there was an announcement that if you have anything on your lap (computer, book, purse), put it under your seat and do it right now. I later learned someone had been hit by a projectile laptop. (more…)
