A New Day ... Live in Las Vegas Céline Dion Classic Sinatra Frank Sinatra Definitive All-Time Greatest Hits John Denver The Most Relaxing Classical Album... Various Artists

You are here: Articles > Flight stories > Flight to L.A. #4		Aviation articles | Movie reviews | Flight stories
Article overview From Salt Lake City, a family of 4 flies the second leg of their trip back to Montreal on a kinda creepy Boeing 727. Originally published in September 1998.	flight to l.a., part 4 by Sergio Ortega fasten your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy night??? s I said in the last part of my previous article, our journey back home suffered a few changes. Instead of transiting at Cincinnati, now we transit at Salt Lake City AND Cincinnati. One step closer to home, we have to fly now from Salt Lake to Cincinnati, an unfortunately memorable flight experience. Waiting pattern Flight: Delta DAL248 Equipment: B72Q Origin/Dest.: KSLC/KCVG Once at the Salt Lake City Airport terminal, we sit down and patiently wait for our next flight to be called. I look at the Delta Air Lines Timetable and notice that our next flight, DL248, is scheduled to leave at 4:30pm, with a "snack" service. Then I look at the "equipment" column and see a rather "terrifying" detail... at least to me. The flight is on a Boeing 727. I remember my first trip on a 727 back in 1995. I never liked that aircraft because of its tight space and rather noisy engines, especially when you're in the lavatory at the back. Also, Delta Air Lines still uses pretty old seat covers, with colorful flower patterns, a little "Aloha", which give you a clue of the age of the aircraft. Snack time Anyway, when I saw "snack", I was a little confused and thought that a snack would be perhaps some peanuts with a soft drink, as I have seen once. So, I ask my father if we can get something to eat at a nearby restaurant, or something. My sister has the same idea. My father goes with me and buys me a cookie with a soft drink. For the same price, my sister gets a Whooper at a nearby Burger King. I get back near the boarding gate to eat my cookie and I'm not done when the P.A. system announces our flight. But my sister is not there. She's at the Burger King eating her hamburger. My father sends me to get her quickly before a queue starts forming in front of the gate agent. I go get her and can't find her until I see her walking towards the gate with her french fries she quickly puts in a paper bag. We finally get at the jetbridge and a kind, young flight attendant welcomes us. I still have my soft drink that I have finished, and I ask her "Could you dispose of this?"... Somehow I forgot to say "please". And she noticed. The manners "Could you dispose of this... please?", she replied. I said "Oh, I'm sorry"... Anyway, she took the soft drink container and I didn't see what she did with it. When we got on the plane, there were already people on board and it was quite full in the aisle. With my back-pack, I accidently hit a man already seated. My mom gets angry "Sergio! Be more careful"... A few seconds later she said: "Did you apologize to that man?"... I somehow forgot my manners that day, must be the anxiety to get home finally... even though the vacation was nice. So I apologize to that man, and I feel a little masochist... and voluntarily take the center seat at the left, with my sister at the window and my father at the aisle seat. So long, Salt Lake The plane finally pushes back about 10 minutes later and it's already 4:45pm. I remember the safety demonstration. Because the 727 does not have an audio system (nor a video system), the flight attendants stand in the aisle and demonstrate the safety features. I remember seeing the same flight attendant that disposed of my drink in the aisle, near to our seats. She was having a very big smile and at one time she sort of laughed, showing how to fasten the seat belt. 5 minutes later, we take-off from Salt Lake and it's the beginning of a trip that is pleasant at the beginning, not-so-pleasant at the middle, and terrifying at the very end... During the ascent, I heard a loud metal bending noise at least twice. My sister asked me the first time what it was, and I replied that it was probably the landing gear retracting. But the second time, I told her "That wasn't the landing gear". I still don't know what that sound was, although I think it might have been the flaps. One thing was certain back then: my sister and I didn't like THIS plane one bit. A snack is a snack About one hour later, a snack is served. That's when I learnt the meaning of "snack" in the airline industry. They served us chicken nuggets with sweet-sour sauce, which was very good, along with a drink, potato chips, and a cookie. The nuggets came in an aluminium bag and I remember seeing the flight attendants distribute them and manipulating them with a pair of metal clippers (the bags were very hot). This is unfortunately the only "light" in the whole flight. Zzzzzzzzzz... Because we didn't sleep much on the last day, and because it was already sunset, since time is passing so quickly because of the time zones, we nozed right after "dinner". At one moment I wake up, and want a blanket. I was supposing the blankets were in the overhead compartments, but didn't want to disturb my dad, who seemed to be sleeping so well. So I push the "flight attendant call" button, which makes a soft "ding". But it had the reverse effect. My father and my sister immediately wake up and my dad says: "What? We're landing already?", thinking that it was the same "ding" as heard when the FASTEN SEAT BELTS sign turns on (or off). And I say "No... no... I called a flight attendant". And a flight attendant immediately comes and says "Who called a flight attendant?". I say yes and ask for a blanket. She immediately gets it out from... the overhead compartment of course! A short while later I feel like going to the lavatory, try to relieve myself. I get to the aisle and fortunately, nobody's waiting for the lavatory. I get in and notice that the lavatory is very old in look and feel. And I also notice the tremendous noise in the lavatory because of the rear engines... and my position in the plane at the back. I notice, near the sink, a bottle of lemon liquid soap, bearing the Delta logo and on the label, I see the word: "Aromatherapy Scents". Believe it or not, this would later inspire a school project on aromatherapy... Finally, nothing "intense" happens, and I get back to my seat, and notice we are about to descend. I see a flight attendant ask a passenger to turn off his "walkman". We hear the Captain on the P.A. system, and I remember clearly that on the background of his voice (which was very friendly, compared to other times) I heard radio communications and some static. And I remember clearly his final message: "Thank you for flying Delta". Terror in the skies The approach begins, and so does the fear. We are told that there will be some turbulence during the approach, which we immediately experience. We are scheduled to land at Cincinnati at 9:50pm, local time (it was supposed to be 9:42pm). It is 9:40pm and I see absolutely nothing but total darkness from the window. The plane is shaking a lot and my sister, who hates turbulence, is scared. So am I. 9:45pm. The metal bending noise starts again as the plane is shaking heavily. At this stage, it would have taken a little more for possibly a white-knuckle flyer to yell "We're all going to die!". I know I should have usually seen the lights of the city at this altitude, but I see absolutely nothing. 9:47pm... Nothing yet. All of a sudden, a bright luminescence is seen from the window, and I thought it was a lightning bolt. I was more scared than ever and was thinking "This is the end. Will we make it to Cincinnati?". The metal bending noise that follows, twice, brings less and less hope to that affirmation. Help! 9:49pm... We cross the clouds and I finally see the lights of the city. We are extremely low and I can almost see the buildings around the airport. Or was it the light posts near the highway? At 9:50pm, we touch down and I was ready to assume the emergency landing position, because I was terrified. The runway is very shiny, it probably rained here. Which could finally explain the light I saw. My mom looks at her watch and notices our flight to Montreal on Comair leaves at 10:20pm, in less than 30 minutes! We start to panic in the family, and there is this extremely slow queue to deplane the aircraft. We are not only scared to miss the flight we fought to finally reach... but also exhausted. But this will be the subject of the next, the FINAL episode of "Flight to L.A."!
	This is part of a series of 5 articles on a trip from Montreal to Los Angeles and back. Click on the numbers below for easy navigation.
	2 Delta aircraft: captures from Delta Air Lines commercial from The Night of the AdEaters. 727 on take-off, inflight: by Sergio Ortega, captured and modified from Microsoft Flight Simulator 98. 727 on approach: from CNN Interactive, modified by Sergio Ortega. © 1998-2008, airodyssey.net. All rights reserved. Disclaimer, trademarks, privacy policy.		< Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next >