bologna
08-04-2008, 10:10 PM
I'm not going to lie, I was downright terrified before I boarded my flight from Bangor, Maine back to Philly. Not only was there a front parked right over the flight path, but there were severe storms pretty much blocking off any conceivable flight path out of the far northeast. As we taxied away from the gate, I was highly regretting my decision to get on-board, and this was not helped by several wide-body Continentals landing due to diversions from EWR because of the weather. By this point, I had absent-mindedly ground my ticket stub into an undistinguishable wad in my hand, knowing that US Airways is hardly known for its willingness to avoid turbulence, nor the E175 for handling turbulence well. Inconvenient, to say the least, considering that I was onboard a US Airways Express E175.
After a very slow taxi out, we stopped by the runway, and the pilot informed us that we would be stopping for 3-5 minutes to let some storms pass. He also told us that the seat-belt sign would be on the entire flight and the cabin crew would be seated for the flight duration as well. However, he told us, that if we took a direct route on the 1 hour 25 minute flight, we would hopefully land just ahead of a storm expected to roll into PHL.
Several minutes later, we took off very steeply and quickly cleared the clouds. The first 30 minutes were perfectly smooth. Not one bump. This sufficiently calmed my nerves, despite watching the paranoid flight attendant trudge his way to the back, holding on dramatically to every seat to inform a mother with lap child to hold on tightly to her child to keep it from hitting the ceiling, regardless of the fact that there was not a bump to be felt. The rest of the flight was slightly more bumpy, but, to my suprise, nothing bad at all. We were able to somehow avoid storms for the most part, only entering clouds once or twice. When we landed in PHL, I was very content. Not only was the flight I had been dreading over, but it was not bad, even for a fearful flyer like me. I was so content that I was not at all nervous for my next flight, which turned out to be nice and smooth. Overall, I think it made me feel better about flying in general, event for flights in which the weather conditions look terrible. And, may I add, I found the E175 a very pleasant aircraft to ride on.
And after looking at this, I realize how long I just wrote about something that very easily could have been summarized in 1-2 sentences. Anyone who actually read through that must have a very long attention span.
After a very slow taxi out, we stopped by the runway, and the pilot informed us that we would be stopping for 3-5 minutes to let some storms pass. He also told us that the seat-belt sign would be on the entire flight and the cabin crew would be seated for the flight duration as well. However, he told us, that if we took a direct route on the 1 hour 25 minute flight, we would hopefully land just ahead of a storm expected to roll into PHL.
Several minutes later, we took off very steeply and quickly cleared the clouds. The first 30 minutes were perfectly smooth. Not one bump. This sufficiently calmed my nerves, despite watching the paranoid flight attendant trudge his way to the back, holding on dramatically to every seat to inform a mother with lap child to hold on tightly to her child to keep it from hitting the ceiling, regardless of the fact that there was not a bump to be felt. The rest of the flight was slightly more bumpy, but, to my suprise, nothing bad at all. We were able to somehow avoid storms for the most part, only entering clouds once or twice. When we landed in PHL, I was very content. Not only was the flight I had been dreading over, but it was not bad, even for a fearful flyer like me. I was so content that I was not at all nervous for my next flight, which turned out to be nice and smooth. Overall, I think it made me feel better about flying in general, event for flights in which the weather conditions look terrible. And, may I add, I found the E175 a very pleasant aircraft to ride on.
And after looking at this, I realize how long I just wrote about something that very easily could have been summarized in 1-2 sentences. Anyone who actually read through that must have a very long attention span.