Instead of driving to LAX I decided to drive to the Ontario Airport to bypass the horrific lines in Los Angeles to catch the red eye to Atlanta. While waiting for the plane to board I admit, I was freaking out a bit. I felt rather nervous and uncertain, exhilarated and doleful, I admit most of it had to do with actions carried out earlier in the morning which I feel slightly regretful in doing - but it had to be done for closure of some sorts...I am breathing a sigh of uneasy relief. However, a bit of it had to do with being hesitant about boarding the plane, that maybe I should wait until morning. I hate Atlanta and didn't really want to go, but I had business to take care of that needed to be completely by the end of this weekend.
For the first hour, the ride was fine. I settled into my aisle seat and even purchased a headset to watch the movie. Anyways suddenly the plane shook violently to the right. Nothing. Then violently to the right again. Then left, right, left, up and down. The flight attendants ran to their jump seats and strapped themselves in immediately.
Now if you know me, you know that I've been flying since I was a baby. I've clocked over 1000 flights. Planes do not scare me. Turbulence does not frighten me. I often fall asleep once the wheels of the plane hit the air and the turbulence is the song that rocks me to sleep. I know that planes can take up to 300 times (maybe it's 30?) the normal turbulence that we as passengers feel. So imagine my surprise when this plane begin to rock violently, more so than any flight I have ever been on in my entire life.
I watched the reactions of the other passengers and you could see the tension on their faces. I saw the flight attendants looking at once another and smiling nervously. Twice the plane dropped more than I've ever felt a plane drop and at times it felt as if we were rag dolls. For once in my life, i was scared. No terrified. I honestly thought that we weren't going to make it.
I was flushed and wide awake. My palms were sweaty and I felt light headed. It was a terrifying experience.
I guess we were traveling through severe thunderstorms. I'm unsure why they didn't divert the plane or climb higher, which they usually do but it could have just been huge - or just happened.
I just know that for the first time in my life, I thought the plane was going down. I've never had that sensation in my entire life, until last night.
Finally things calmed down and I closed my eyes to rest a bit as I knew I had a long day ahead of me. *THUD* I opened then and saw passengers frantically looking around and down towards the floor. Then "Flight Attendant!" Apparently some woman had fainted and fell out on the opposite aisle towards the front of the plane. She laid down there for awhile and I had thought the plane would have to land - which meant flying through more storm area - but it turned out that she had some diabetic episode. She was fine after thirty minutes of lying there, well fine enough to continue the flight at least.
It was a crazy flight. Like I said...I've flown over 1000 flights in my lifetime starting at age 0. Mom's been in the business for over 40 years. I have never in my life felt my own mortality slipping away until last night. I know I'm not going to live forever and that's fine, it's just mad-crazy when you're not really expecting something and then something happens and that's it. Lights out.
I was shaky. The other passengers were shaky. The flight attendants were shaky. It was a wild ride. Scary.
I'm still going to Pompeii however regardless of the scare.
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