Our flight
I need to preface this post with an acknowledgement that every employee of United Airlines was absolutely incredible, pleasant, and helpful. This is not always the case with every airline, so in this case, I really need to make sure that is clear.
Our flight out of Beijing was delayed more than two hours. The reason was an interesting (that is the best euphemism I can come up with) look into the way US airlines have to operate. A mechanical problem on a plane in the US on Wednesday caused an eventual cancellation of that flight. To catch up the cycle of large planes to on-time would take days. Our Saturday afternoon delay was a result of the cancellation on Wednesday.
Once we finally boarded and were in the air, our troubles did not end. Almost immediately we began to experience turbulence, violent turbulence. I am not exaggerating as a fearful flyer. The turbulence was once-in-a-lifetime bad, the kind of which even our flight attendants later remarked that they seldom if ever had that kind of a flight on a plane that large.
After the first two hours, the pilot finally came on to address the passengers. Prior to that, the only time we heard his voice was to command urgently the flight attendants to stop what they were doing and strap themselves in. Immediately. This time, he sounded calm and confident, even a bit apologetic. There was nothing they could have done to avoid the turbulence, and, worse, we had about another forty minutes of turbulence ahead of us, and even worse yet, it would get worse before it would get better.
Up to this point, Myles and Brigid slept. Miraculously, they both fell asleep at takeoff. I don't know what I would have done to keep them calm and, in the case of Brigid, seated and strapped in for two and a half hours of rattle and roll. Myles did wake up, and, unfortunately, experienced a bit of the fear from which I live to protect him. His eyes wide, he occasionally commented that he could feel the fear building inside him and getting pushed out on the biggest bumps.
In between silent, desperate prayers, I found myself wondering if it were at all real. There were times I felt less like we were on a plane, shaking at 30,000 feet and more like we were in an earthquake simulator or an amusement park ride. Other than that all I could ask, in disbelief, "Is this it?
After the turbulence was behind us (two and a half hours later), the flight attendants resumed bringing us our supper and drinks. One attendant, a bilingual Chinese man, injected humor into the situation. The choices in the main cabin were pork or chicken, so when he asked in English, it was, "Leather or Feather?" I watched as tension left many passenger's faces. Immediately people were at ease. Certainly the worst must be past if he could joke like that.
One benefit from this though, was that in the rest of this flight, or the subsequent flight to Pittsburgh the next day, was that I was much less sensitive to turbulence.
Our flight out of Beijing was delayed more than two hours. The reason was an interesting (that is the best euphemism I can come up with) look into the way US airlines have to operate. A mechanical problem on a plane in the US on Wednesday caused an eventual cancellation of that flight. To catch up the cycle of large planes to on-time would take days. Our Saturday afternoon delay was a result of the cancellation on Wednesday.
Once we finally boarded and were in the air, our troubles did not end. Almost immediately we began to experience turbulence, violent turbulence. I am not exaggerating as a fearful flyer. The turbulence was once-in-a-lifetime bad, the kind of which even our flight attendants later remarked that they seldom if ever had that kind of a flight on a plane that large.
After the first two hours, the pilot finally came on to address the passengers. Prior to that, the only time we heard his voice was to command urgently the flight attendants to stop what they were doing and strap themselves in. Immediately. This time, he sounded calm and confident, even a bit apologetic. There was nothing they could have done to avoid the turbulence, and, worse, we had about another forty minutes of turbulence ahead of us, and even worse yet, it would get worse before it would get better.
Up to this point, Myles and Brigid slept. Miraculously, they both fell asleep at takeoff. I don't know what I would have done to keep them calm and, in the case of Brigid, seated and strapped in for two and a half hours of rattle and roll. Myles did wake up, and, unfortunately, experienced a bit of the fear from which I live to protect him. His eyes wide, he occasionally commented that he could feel the fear building inside him and getting pushed out on the biggest bumps.
In between silent, desperate prayers, I found myself wondering if it were at all real. There were times I felt less like we were on a plane, shaking at 30,000 feet and more like we were in an earthquake simulator or an amusement park ride. Other than that all I could ask, in disbelief, "Is this it?
After the turbulence was behind us (two and a half hours later), the flight attendants resumed bringing us our supper and drinks. One attendant, a bilingual Chinese man, injected humor into the situation. The choices in the main cabin were pork or chicken, so when he asked in English, it was, "Leather or Feather?" I watched as tension left many passenger's faces. Immediately people were at ease. Certainly the worst must be past if he could joke like that.
One benefit from this though, was that in the rest of this flight, or the subsequent flight to Pittsburgh the next day, was that I was much less sensitive to turbulence.
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