I'm not really fond of flying, however, I will get on a plane to go places. The lure of travel is much stronger than my discomfort at being 35K feet above the ground. So... Rob & I were flying American out of ABQ, to DFW and then, to BWI for a long weekend. Our flight from ABQ to DFW was perfect. We had a swift, smooth takeoff and an equally swift & smooth landing. Cool... we should arrive at BWI on time!
Oops... I spoke too soon. We boarded our craft on time but after some 30 mins, the pilot got on the horn and told us that there was a problem with the cockpit door and that they needed to fix it before we could leave. OK... at least, turn on the AC so we could be somewhat comfortable. Nope... ain't happenin'.
The mechanic comes & goes, the pilot starts the preflight. Damn! Another hitch! This time, the radar goes out! Again, a tech comes & goes... We've now been aboard for about 2 hours, more or less. OK. Radar is fixed and the pilot starts the engines and we go out to the flight line. Yeah!!!!
We're off!!!! Not exactly....
The pilot revved the engines one time and then took his foot off the gas pedal. Huh?
The pilot revved the engines a 2nd time... Still a no go. WTF?
The pilot revved them a 3rd time, we traveled about 50 feet and then, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a serious engine fault. We are going back to the gate to see if it can be fixed." Oh joy... but better on the ground than in the air. Anyway, after another 30 minutes or so, they find us a new aircraft and we board her, get priority takeoff status and then, we're off!
Kudos to American for getting us on our way and kudos to the flight crew for their professionalism.
2 comments:
Yikes, I don't think I would have been comfortable on that plan after all of that. Glad you got a different one.
I'm seldom an easy flier to begin with. I was very happy they gave us another plane and I was even happier to be on the ground at our destination, BWI!
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