No shit there I was again
No shit there I was on a six passenger single engine prop Cessna about to take off when in the middle of taxing the pilot aborted. I kid you not we screeched to a halt 10 feet from the end of the runway and 30 feet from the edge of a cliff. The pilot turned to me and over the noise of the engine yelled “I didn’t think we were going to make it!”
Runway is a generous term, more like an old forgotten strip of road in the middle of nowhere. The pilot had us get off the plane, turn it around and then he taxied back to the take off area leaving us to walk back. Walking back in the sweltering 100 degree weather I seriously weighed my options; the best seeming to bring out the girls and hitching a ride back to Moab. I assessed the probability of surviving a serial killer assault verses surviving that plane trip and the serial killer looked like the better bet.
When we returned to the plane the pilot claimed that the plane needed to cool off, hello in 100 degree weather baking on that strip of black top??? The cheerleader than said one of the greatest lines of the entire trip; “If you don’t think we are going to make it, the by all means don’t try it.” I started laughing in hysterics, hysterics because it was funny and hysterics because I was near a break down. I was scared for the first time the entire trip, off the river, out of the rapids and I was scared.
Finally I convinced myself to get back on that plane and I white knuckled gripped it all the way back. Every ten minutes or so my internal logical side of my brain would remind my fear saturated side of my brain that hanging on with all my strength would not stop the plane from crashing and I would release my death grip but a 6 foot air drop and I would grasp the oh shit handle and hang on. I spent the entire trip looking for likely landing spots in the event of a catastrophic engine failure and assessing how long it would take for rescue crews to reach us.
I will run a river any day but I will need some serious medication before I take that plane ride again.
Runway is a generous term, more like an old forgotten strip of road in the middle of nowhere. The pilot had us get off the plane, turn it around and then he taxied back to the take off area leaving us to walk back. Walking back in the sweltering 100 degree weather I seriously weighed my options; the best seeming to bring out the girls and hitching a ride back to Moab. I assessed the probability of surviving a serial killer assault verses surviving that plane trip and the serial killer looked like the better bet.
When we returned to the plane the pilot claimed that the plane needed to cool off, hello in 100 degree weather baking on that strip of black top??? The cheerleader than said one of the greatest lines of the entire trip; “If you don’t think we are going to make it, the by all means don’t try it.” I started laughing in hysterics, hysterics because it was funny and hysterics because I was near a break down. I was scared for the first time the entire trip, off the river, out of the rapids and I was scared.
Finally I convinced myself to get back on that plane and I white knuckled gripped it all the way back. Every ten minutes or so my internal logical side of my brain would remind my fear saturated side of my brain that hanging on with all my strength would not stop the plane from crashing and I would release my death grip but a 6 foot air drop and I would grasp the oh shit handle and hang on. I spent the entire trip looking for likely landing spots in the event of a catastrophic engine failure and assessing how long it would take for rescue crews to reach us.
I will run a river any day but I will need some serious medication before I take that plane ride again.
posted by Spin_Doc1 at
7:43 AM
2 Comments:
HOLY. SHIT.
So after one vacation you are down to seven lives left?
note to self: never go on vacation with spin.
;)
By
chesneygirl, at 2:04 PM
Just one life down, I was not in serious danger on the water. AND come on a vacation with me you will have the time of your life!
By
Spin_Doc1, at 7:28 PM
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