So on top of it all.. 'Emergency Landing" last nite. lol.

DavezWife · January 2011

We were flying Tampa to Mpls., just Ava and I again b/c Davez was booked on another airline with the same flight times (we had vouchers to use up)

Half-way thru the cabin's lights and TV things flickered on & off, and the plane was really stuffy hot. 3 mins later, they announce we're going to stop in St. Louis because the plane was having "technical issues" ... Yeh, they tried to make it seem like "oh there's an airport nearby, thought we'd stop by it" but later I talked to the flight attendent and he said in 24 yrs of flying he's never had a cleared runway with TONS of emergency vehicles lined up the whole way, lol. That was SOOOOO scary to see!

The plane was banking left and right a lot, which seemed odd. I had Ava in her carseat, and was trying to be "brave" and all that chit, and the flight attendants didn't seem that worried, so I was tryingto relax. Yeh, not a word I can deal with well right now.

Ends up some generator thing that starts the plane didn't work, and if the engine stopped, we'd be screwed. Later on, the same blabby attendant said something about how they had to "jump start" the plane to take off, since not many mechanics in that area "know" these planes, they're new to the fleet from Texas. lol. WTF.

We landed FAST, and I was in tears, thinking the song "isn't it ironic" lol.

Um, yeh. We didn't get home until 2am. Ava was a trooper. I tried to make it fun (donuts for dinner, watching a movie under a "tent" etc) but I was so fried at this point.

but we slept in a lil this morning, and Ava's already in her princess dress, singing Glee songs, lol. She's such a lovely patch for my heart ;-)

________________________________________

Anyone else ever deal with a kinda-near-miss on a plane? I've flown bazillion flights, some on cambodian airlines with chickens and windows that didn't shut tight... but never this! You?

LSUBride3 · January 2011

SO fricken glad you are back!!! Big Smile

emmyloustu · January 2011

D@mn, girl!!! CRAZY!!

njdcgirl · January 2011

Dang. I would have freaked. No stories for me. But I did watch the special again the other day about the landing on the Hudson. How freaking amazing was that??

Glad y'all are home.

mrsolsenk12 · January 2011

Nothing quite that scary!! I had a flight that it was a ROUGH landing. I mean the plane was shaking up and down as well as side to side. I was bouncing around in my seat and the seatbelt was the only thing that kept me in the seat. Glad you guys got home ok. STL airport is at least big and has lots of stuff in it so it was better than a tiny airport in the middle of nowhere.

marcuej · January 2011

Glad you made it back safe and sound after a scary flight. I've been through a scary situation on a flight like that when I was in 7th grade. I was on a flight to Florida with some family friends (my parents weren't on it). We had to do an emergency landing in Memphis because 2 of the 3 engines had gone out. It was really scary! They were preparing us to go down the slides, but we were able to land fine. There was a big, fat, sweaty guy behind me screaming, "We're all going to die, we're all going to die". That didn't help matters at all! Luckily, everything turned out ok. We were stuck in Memphis for a day until we could get re-scheduled on another flight.

Smudges*Mom · January 2011

I'm glad that you are home safely, but day-um! What an unwelcome adventure.

I have not had any freaky plane experiences, but my dad did. Ultimately, the plane landed on a Mesa in northern New Mexico. The Mesa is one, evidently/supposedly, that the Navy has used to practice landing on air craft carriers. Dad said that when the plane touched down, they went wheels down in the paint at one end of the plateau and when the plane came to a stop, they were in the paint at the other end. Then, as it works with airlines, the passengers sat on the plane for hours while the airline had to figure out what to do and how to get the passengers to Albuquerque. Finally, they loaded them on buses. My poor dad, he got to his hotel in the wee hours and had to be up and ready to present at a conference first thing in the morning.

I hope you are able to get into a rhythm now that you are home!

kme930 · January 2011

So scary! Glad you are home safe!

PhillySue · January 2011

OMG that is scary. So glad that you guys made it home! I hate flying and would have been a mess. My worst flying experience was on a flight from Boston to Philly in a Nor'easter. We were inches from landing and the pilot pulled up the plane very fast and got us back up in the air. He came on the speaker and said it was not safe to land. I was with a coworker who said I had a look of panic on my face and was gripping the seat.

My Aunt was just on a flight to Hawaii and while the were over the pacific the cabin filled with smoke. She said that the flight attendants were running around the cabin in a panic trying to find out where the fire was. Turns out there was a fire in one of the air vents(?). They turned the plan around and made it back to Cali...yikes!

dundasgirl · January 2011

We had a really rough flight about 10 years ago...One of the flight attendants was white knuckled in her seat. NOT cool! I am glad you got home okay! Geez!

GeeWhiz · January 2011

So glad you landed safely. I haven't had any near misses, but once flew from Norfolk to Dulles in a 12-seater next to a girl with a strong fear of flying and a devout Catholic faith...during a mother of a storm. Needless to say, well before we even began our takeoff, she had her prayer beads out and was crying in between saying rosaries and Hail Marys. It was the longest 45 minute flight I've ever taken and my nerves were so shot from tying to console her through every bump and shake that when we arrived I took myself off to the nearest bar and downed the largest drink they would serve me...in about 30 seconds all the time wondering "why doesn't she just take a bus?!?"

LucyPevensie · January 2011

And THIS is why I will always obnoxiously advise parents to shell out the bucks and BUY a seat for their child - and strap that child into a carseat while on the plane - it's for SURVIVABLE accidents, rough landings and bad turbulence (the force of which would be too much for you to maintain a hold on your lap baby.)

Sorry about the PSA - but this came up again the other day and someone was saying "well it's not like a carseat is going to help if the plane goes down!" - no - not if everyone goes down in a giant fireball it won't - but it sure might save your baby or toddler's life during a survivable, forceful incident, accident or landing. And the FAA agrees with me - the safest place for your baby or toddler while on a plane is in a carseat.

So glad you and Ava are home safe T!!!!

TheSkimmy · January 2011

Wow that's freaky- Glad you and Ava are home safe!!!

DavezWife · January 2011

yep, your PSA actually crossed my manic mind during this all, Pee. I wanted SOOO BAD to take my little girl out and hold her and sing to her, and if we were "going down" I wanted to have her close. But I knew I was being silly (the attendants were still chatting and slowly putting on their belts, ha, they didn't know the severity of the situation, which irks me) and knew that she was safest in her secure seat with belts. With her mother smothered over her to protect her from it all. lol.

As long as I'm complaining, Tampa airport let Ava's metal thermos filled with apple juice go thru without even looking at it. Irk #2. That could have been filled with FLAMMABLE LIQUID. lol.

Courted · January 2011

My goodness!!!! How scary and I am so glad you are both okay! Just keep giving Ava big hugs!

wvagirl · January 2011

Pretty freaking scary stuff there lady. Glad everything was ok in the end. I've been on some scary flights, but no near misses like that. At a newspaper I worked at previously, a pilot we used to hire when we needed to do aerial shots crashed and died about a month after I last flew with him. That's about as close as I ever got.

Mouseygail · January 2011

holy crap lady!! so glad that it ended up being ok!!!!

JillAly · January 2011

Glad you're ok. I know how scary it is- and I didn't even have kids at the time it happened to me. I would have been freaking!

I don't know what possessed me to visit a friend- in Michigan- in January- when I was in college. Snow- blizzard- you think? Well, our landing gear got frozen under the plane and it wouldn't come out. We flew and got rid of all the jet fuel. Right before we were going to do a bellyflop on the runway (they had foam on it and all the firetrucks lining the sides), the landing gear popped out. The pilot immediately pulled up- what felt like straight up! We circled around again and landed safely on another runway. The scariest part for me was when the flight attendants told us to get in crash position. That has always stayed with me.

As an aside, we had to go down the shoot (very fun) because the doors were also frozen - it's a long story. Anyway, we finally got out onto the ground and they couldnt' find the key to open the emergency doors to let us inside. So we stood outside on the tarmac, in the snow, in the cold, with no coats (we left everything on the plane). Let's just say that 9/10 people on the plane, including the flight crew, met up at the bar and pounded the drinks for a while. I haven't been back to Michigan in the winter since!