Last friday's plane ride was an unforgettable one for a variety of reasons. This being the tornado season, the rides are never very pleasant. And for a person who's scared of the turbulence(yours truly), it is always a nightmare. So I wasn't very pleased while heading towards the airport anyway. Besides, Detroit-Chicago being a short flight, the airlines always use the "puddle-jumpers" for the commute. These planes sway like the proverbial leaf in the slightest of the winds.
Anyway, I get to the airport and realize that my 7:45 flight has been delayed to to 10:30. Not willing to wait that long, I asked for a standby in the 7pm flight and thanks to my frequent flier status, I got the seat. The flight was dealyed to about 8:30.
I got a seat towards the back of the plane. I was cursing my luck about this when this hot babe sat down next to me. Now, this never-EVER happens to me. I always get the most unhappening companions. As I was looking out of the window to see if I could spot my guradian angel and give a personal thanks, I heard: "I think you are on my seat...". Knowing what awaited me, I told myself not to look but then curiosity got the better of me and I turned. Sure enough, my diet-companion had been swapped with a super-sized one. The physical distance between me and the other window seat kept me from wiping the stupid grin off the face of my ex-companion's new companion. It being a short-flight was my only consolation. (How much conversation will he be able to make in 45min anyway!)
As the grim realization dawned on me that I won't be getting much of the arm-rest tonight, I sunk further in my seat and settled for a snooze. About 10minutes from landing, I was shaken by a jolt. As I got up ready to punch the face of the "super-size", I realized the real cause.
On my side of the window, the sky was totally dark. I could see some lightening bolts in the distance too. I strained to look at the other side and saw that it was bright and sunny. It was very surreal, almost scenic in it's contrast. Just as we got closer to the ground, it started raining hard. The visibility was down to zero on my side with all the fog. Our plane started heading towards the ground at an angle of almost 45. Too steep for my liking. Suddenly the plane increased speed, chaneged course and started climbing at an angle of 45. The engines were groaning with the strain but we were going higher and higher. The turbulence was getting worse. Then the pilot's voice boomed: "As you saw, we couldn't make that one, we will be going back for another pass". This was crazy, we were gonna attempt that again!! Can't we stay up here for a while? But we did, and made a shaky but remarkable landing after some more bumps. Some people clapped when we got down. The pilot did an awesome job of controlling the plane.
After we got down, we thanked the pilot and asked him the reason for such a maneouver. He said: wind shear. Knowing that I won't like what I will see, I googled it today and came up with this...
wind shear - localised change in wind speed and/or direction over a short distance, resulting in a tearing or shearing effect, usually at low altitude, that can cause a sudden loss of airspeed with occasionally disastrous results if encountered when taking-off or landing.
More info:
http://www.geo.mtu.edu/department/classes/ge406/jmedward/windsheer/sheardef.htm
PS- One of these days, I am gonna write a long column on what all I am scared of...though I am a living breathing proof that confronting your fears doesn't help. Theoratically, if I had a penny for all the times that I have done things that I am scared of, I would be able to retire right now. But in reality, I am still broke and still phobic.
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