Dear Shawn,
The flight was Houston to Philadelphia. With what was one of the rockiest landings of my seventeen years working for Mother Airline, the plane banked, fish tailed, rocked, dipped, rose and hit the ground on one wheel before bouncing and hitting it again. It was rough. It was almost exciting. It was like many of those fun landing videos I watch on line. I looked to my flying partner who had not yet started to laugh or smile, which I began to do as soon as I realized that I didn't have to start yelling, "Brace, brace brace!"
When we leveled out and nearly came to a stop, she looked at me and said, "That was wild. Did the wing hit the ground? I looked out the window and all I saw was grass!" That made me laugh even more, because I noticed that too. I looked out of the small round porthole window and instead of seeing the normal view of field, distant trees, etcetera, the plane was at such an angle that I did see nothing but the grass along the runway.
I've had rough landings in the past, even some where a few passengers gasp and or scream. I don't recall that happening on this landing, but that could very well be due to the severity of this one demanding all of my attention. At least it wasn't as bad that one landing I had in Burbank on a 737 where we didn't seem to land as much as we were hit by the ground. We hit so hard that it actually hurt my back. Sometimes, a landing is so rough, the pilots are required to do a walk-around to check for damage.
Most people are easily scared by such things. I am one of the weird ones who enjoys a bit of turbulence in flight and the occasional rough, side-winder style landings. I enjoy being reminded that I'm flying through the air in a beautiful, shiny metal tube. I have the most awesome job I can think of!
This experience reminded me of how Mom used to be scared to fly, and she would tell me that when something happened that was of concern to her, the first thing she would do is watch the flight attendants. She assumed that if there was something to be concerned about, they would indicate such by the look on their face. I've never forgotten this, so when I'm in view of passengers during turbulent flight, I always try to smile, maybe laugh a little, and show that I'm having a great time.
The flight was Houston to Philadelphia. With what was one of the rockiest landings of my seventeen years working for Mother Airline, the plane banked, fish tailed, rocked, dipped, rose and hit the ground on one wheel before bouncing and hitting it again. It was rough. It was almost exciting. It was like many of those fun landing videos I watch on line. I looked to my flying partner who had not yet started to laugh or smile, which I began to do as soon as I realized that I didn't have to start yelling, "Brace, brace brace!"
When we leveled out and nearly came to a stop, she looked at me and said, "That was wild. Did the wing hit the ground? I looked out the window and all I saw was grass!" That made me laugh even more, because I noticed that too. I looked out of the small round porthole window and instead of seeing the normal view of field, distant trees, etcetera, the plane was at such an angle that I did see nothing but the grass along the runway.
I've had rough landings in the past, even some where a few passengers gasp and or scream. I don't recall that happening on this landing, but that could very well be due to the severity of this one demanding all of my attention. At least it wasn't as bad that one landing I had in Burbank on a 737 where we didn't seem to land as much as we were hit by the ground. We hit so hard that it actually hurt my back. Sometimes, a landing is so rough, the pilots are required to do a walk-around to check for damage.
Most people are easily scared by such things. I am one of the weird ones who enjoys a bit of turbulence in flight and the occasional rough, side-winder style landings. I enjoy being reminded that I'm flying through the air in a beautiful, shiny metal tube. I have the most awesome job I can think of!
This experience reminded me of how Mom used to be scared to fly, and she would tell me that when something happened that was of concern to her, the first thing she would do is watch the flight attendants. She assumed that if there was something to be concerned about, they would indicate such by the look on their face. I've never forgotten this, so when I'm in view of passengers during turbulent flight, I always try to smile, maybe laugh a little, and show that I'm having a great time.
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