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Come fly my friendly skies with me
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Monday August 20, 2001 |
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I know that a few moments ago I reported that we were taxiing the runway to find the best wind to take off. In reality, there is a plane about to make an emergency landing, and we need to keep the runway clear."
No sooner had he said that than a plane appeared barreling down out of the sky trailing a cloud of black smoke. Mexico's emergency crews screamed down the airstrip chasing the plane to its final destination. Frazzled people were evacuating the charred aircraft just yards from my plane where my nose was pressed to the glass of my small square window. I was too grotesquely enraptured to look away. More than usual, my heart was racing, teeth chattering, palms sweating and breath shortening. I wanted to make sure all the passengers of the neighboring plane were OK, or perhaps selfishly, I was just desperately trying to figure out how to get off my plane.
"Well, that's taken care of. Flight attendants, prepare for take off."
Sound familiar? My air-travel troubles were probably similar to those of many other student travelers. How many of you were welcomed this summer by tired, irritated United or Southwest attendants onto old, dirty planes? How many of you worried about the gas leak you noticed right before your pilot revved the engines? Personally, I love to fly.
Well, allow me to rephrase: There is little in this world that I fear or seek to avoid more than flying. But the entire airport experience is a fascinating experiment on the human condition. For example, after the fourth delay around 11 p.m. in the Dallas airport, which passenger in the waiting lounge will begin to cry first? How long can one entertain a 4-year-old with, "Let's go watch the planes take off?" And, how much training is involved until the employee at the counter can say with a straight face, "It will be just a few moments now until we're ready to begin boarding?"
Today is the first day of school. Welcome back Cats. Without doubt, in today's mobile society, most students flew somewhere during this summer break. In many ways, this makes us very fortunate. We're traveling more and experiencing more new places than past generations. But if you flew somewhere within the last few months, you've noticed the national air traffic crisis. And I don't just mean the martini drinking, epileptic pilot with the "So, you want to be a pilot?" manual in his hand. (Oops, there goes my irrational fear rearing its ugly head again).
Despite the solid efforts of pilots, attendants and air traffic controllers, there just simply isn't the capacity for the amount of people looking to travel. Take Chicago for example. The gargantuan city has two smaller cities within it otherwise known as O'Hare and Midway, which has been under construction since the dawn of humankind. And the two airports simply aren't enough. Chicago mayor Richard M. Daly is faced with the decision to continue to expand or to attempt to build a third airport and dedicate O'Hare specifically to international travel.
Until then, continue to prepare yourself by planning your arrival time later than you had previously predicted. For instance, if you'd prefer to arrive in Madison, Wis., say on Sept. 1, arrange for a taxi to pick you up at the airport on the third.
My plan for self-entertainment - if I'm forced to fly, that is - is to continue my research into human behavior. How many personal belongings can be crushed into the overhead bin to avoid checking luggage? Can a 6-foot woman squeeze into a coach seat better on American or Delta? Is the person in the emergency aisle really paying attention to those safety instructions? And the most important question of all - how long will airline employees put up with these working conditions?
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© Copyright 2001 - The Arizona Daily Wildcat - Arizona Student Media
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