I realize this blog has degenerated into a collection of rants on my recent flying experiences, but I can’t help myself. The saga continues. Last Saturday I flew from Tulsa to Houston and then on to Victoria, Texas. It was probably the most unpleasant flight I’ve ever had in my life. (And I am blogging about it on Thursday morning because I have been feeling blog laziness… )
I should have known something was up when I boarded the Saab 340b, a twin turboprop capable of holding ~36 passengers, and found we were just 3 for the flight from Houston to Victoria. That couldn’t have been very profitable for Colgan Air…
Things started off well enough as we climbed away from Houston, but all the clouds above had me a little concerned. An airliner can climb quickly and smoothly through all that turbulent air. A Saab 340b will take a considerably longer time and we were only climbing to 6,000 feet anyway. Lordy-lordy was that air turbulent. I was indeed very nerbulent. One of the other passengers was an off-duty flight attendant and the other had observed me reading a Flying magazine that I bought for the DH. When he asked if I was a pilot, I told him no, but that I taught in a flight school. At that point I felt I needed to maintain a nonchalant attitude, so I sat there, silently freaking out while calmly attempting to drink from a water bottle. (Not a good idea.)
Have you seen Almost Famous? You know the part where the band experiences a crazy, out of control airplane ride and they all end up confessing their secrets to each other? Well, I might be exaggerating, but I think it was more or less like that.
The airplane bobbed up and down and jerked side to side pretty much nonstop. Occasionally we’d pop up above the clouds and feel a moment or two of calm air before being rocked around and around again. I started to wonder if those other 33 passengers knew something we didn’t. The most amazing thing is that although I was thoroughly uncomfortable, I knew that this was okay. It seems I can handle rocky conditions in a small airplane much better than a big one. Hey, I never said I was logical.
Learning more about pilots and flying airplanes, I realize that although we were in the back terrified, the two pilots in the cockpit were probably enjoying themselves immensely. Either that or they were reading a newspaper, immune to the mild pummeling we were receiving. And that is what I always forget. No matter how horrendous I think the turbulence is, it is almost always considered “light” on the severity scale. When I once inquired of the DH what “severe” turbulence might be like, he swiftly informed me that it was not something that anyone wanted to experience, ever, under any circumstances. Great. I regularly prepare myself for in-flight breakup during conditions that are only considered light? Good times.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh man, I sometimes take a turboprop from to where we live in Brazil. This last time was awful! I just want to curl up in a ball and make all the jerking stop. I like reading your flight experiences. Glad I’m not the only nervous one out there.
Fascinating to read about civil aviation in China! Thanks for posting.
…an oh yeah — I’m sorry I commented this China thing on the wrong page. I actually do realize Houston is not in China. A few years ago I was part of the training development for the Bombardier Regional Jet – before the first one was off the assembly line. They still had doubts about the success of a jet aircraft in the regional market. I assured them the passengers would welcome it – just for reasons such as this – i.e. flying above more of the turbulence.
Hi Grant, Thanks for stopping by! I recently started reading your blog when it suddenly hit me that if I like reading blogs and I live aviation, there must be aviation blogs out there!
Aviation in China is interesting and I DO plan on blogging more about it… stay tuned! Oh and I love the regional jets! For me it is the perfect size.