Our Nova Scotia cruise was three years in the making, and our plans were in place. We arrived at Greenville-Spartanburg Airport far ahead of our departure time. There were four of us, to be joined by others for a cruise to New England and Canada. Our airline tickets said a resounding NO to the column listing in-flight meals. The pilot tried to prepare one as the plane taxied. The windshield and propellers caught a flock of birds. Take-off was aborted to clean and check the airplane’s moving parts. I was thankful I wasn’t on the maintenance crew to wipe up those fowl remains.
After ten minutes of maintenance and thirty minutes of paperwork, we settled into soy nuts, pretzels, and cokes. We were leaving the sunny skies of South Carolina for the torrential rains of Tropical Storm Stan.
We changed planes at Washington-Dulles in plenty of time to arrive in New York by the 1:58 time on our ticket. Stan had other ideas. We boarded the plane, glad we wouldn’t be one of the delayed flights. Our lovely stewardess, Pinky, gave us a theatrical presentation of safety procedures; our pilot, Shane introduced himself via intercom. The doors were closed and Shane began to push back; then he pushed forward.
I leaned over to Bill, “maybe he forgot his suitcase, we’re going back.”
“Ladies and gentlemen Flight 5412 non-stop service to LaGuardia International has been delayed due to weather conditions and air traffic stack-up in New York. We are now looking at a departure time of 3:30. If you would kindly deplane and wait in the gate area we will take-off as soon as we get clearance. We are looking at a ninety-minute delay. You may leave the gate area, but please do not stray too far; listen to all announcements.” The passengers were listening; but the crew wasn’t.
Finally, the announcement came for all crews to return to the area; we were cleared for departure. The next problem seemed to be finding the crew. They were paged by intercom and through a handheld paging device. The young lady holding the device grew exasperated.
“Can anybody else around here drive the plane?” My question didn’t seem to help her. After twenty minutes of calling, the crew finally arrived. ‘ I wonder if they’ve been in the bar and we need a designated pilot, ‘ I mused.
We took our place in the fourteen jet line-up.
“Ladies and gentlemen, once again we’ve been asked to sit for an hour or push back to wait for clearance. I have chosen to remain here in order to guarantee our place. If anyone has a problem with this, please inform our flight attendant.” Everyone told Pinky we were cool to stay put.
Finally, we were able to take off and that was the last we saw of land until the runway of LaGuardia. Smoky fog shrouded our plane. If I had a question about the crew’s sobriety the landing was my answer. With no vision of land below, our young pilot touched the small apron of cement with military precision. His accuracy drew united applause. We arrived three hours late with teeth, hair, and eyes intact. Better late than scattered! Our excellent northeast cruise adventure stretched before us.
- Wand Time Dulles Airport- Bill and Friend
