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FatFreeGoodness · 11-28-2005, 03:48 PM

maleficent: “And don't sit anywhere near people who fly a lot for a living because we might find it necessary to start sharing war stories”

I once quit a job after I received a letter from an airline thanking me for averaging 10,000 miles a week for two years straight. War Story follows:

The worst flight I ever made was on a small plane (twin engine prop commuter) flying from Huntsville Alabama to Atlanta. They held us from boarding until the last minute then announced the planes air conditioning was broken, and the plane was extremely hot. This was in early August, 2PM in full sun in Alabama, so we all knew that “hot” did not mean just “a little warm”. However, they intended to fly it to Atlanta to fix it, and anticipated that it would cool off quickly at altitude. If we wanted to board, it was our choice. Everyone elected to board.
“So, here’s how we do this. Forget the assigned seating. When we let you, exit the building and get on the plane. Boarding is from a stairway in the tail. Move forward and take the most forward seat available. When everyone is on we have clearance to take off immediately.
I dawdled so as to be the last person on board. I thought this would minimize my time on the plane – last on, first off. A side effect was that I ended up sitting in the tapered rear of the plane. Everyone else had two seats, an aisle, and two more seats. I had my seat, the aisle, then another seat. The plane was unbearably hot. Much hotter than anyone expected, but by the time we fully realized just how hot we were taking off.
The pilots left the little sliding windows in the cockpit open, and also the door from the cockpit to the rest of the plane, and that was all the ventilation we had. Because of the open window they flew lower than normal, and it was VERY turbulent. We had all types of motion; up and down, side to side, rocking, but the worst was the yaw, where the nose would swing to the left while the tail surged right, and visa-versa. With the heat (over 120 degrees) and the motion everyone on board got airsick within the first fifteen minutes, except for the group in the tail, for about four rows. That group waited till the plane was out of airsickness bags, THEN got sick.

I’ve been more scared, but never more miserable.

11-28-2005, 03:48 PM	#9 (permalink)
FatFreeGoodness Tilted	maleficent: “And don't sit anywhere near people who fly a lot for a living because we might find it necessary to start sharing war stories” I once quit a job after I received a letter from an airline thanking me for averaging 10,000 miles a week for two years straight. War Story follows: The worst flight I ever made was on a small plane (twin engine prop commuter) flying from Huntsville Alabama to Atlanta. They held us from boarding until the last minute then announced the planes air conditioning was broken, and the plane was extremely hot. This was in early August, 2PM in full sun in Alabama, so we all knew that “hot” did not mean just “a little warm”. However, they intended to fly it to Atlanta to fix it, and anticipated that it would cool off quickly at altitude. If we wanted to board, it was our choice. Everyone elected to board. “So, here’s how we do this. Forget the assigned seating. When we let you, exit the building and get on the plane. Boarding is from a stairway in the tail. Move forward and take the most forward seat available. When everyone is on we have clearance to take off immediately. I dawdled so as to be the last person on board. I thought this would minimize my time on the plane – last on, first off. A side effect was that I ended up sitting in the tapered rear of the plane. Everyone else had two seats, an aisle, and two more seats. I had my seat, the aisle, then another seat. The plane was unbearably hot. Much hotter than anyone expected, but by the time we fully realized just how hot we were taking off. The pilots left the little sliding windows in the cockpit open, and also the door from the cockpit to the rest of the plane, and that was all the ventilation we had. Because of the open window they flew lower than normal, and it was VERY turbulent. We had all types of motion; up and down, side to side, rocking, but the worst was the yaw, where the nose would swing to the left while the tail surged right, and visa-versa. With the heat (over 120 degrees) and the motion everyone on board got airsick within the first fifteen minutes, except for the group in the tail, for about four rows. That group waited till the plane was out of airsickness bags, THEN got sick. I’ve been more scared, but never more miserable.