I hate flying. Plain and simple. I am not afraid of heights, nor am I claustrophobic. I just really hate flying.
This past September, I took my first trans-Atlantic flight to the United Kingdom, first making a stop in Amsterdam. I was terrified. All I kept thinking about was the first scene in Final Destination. Sure, that flight was going to Paris, and it took off from New York's JFK airport, but I was certain that my Detroit-to-Amsterdam flight had a Final Destination plot.
Much to my surprise, I made it to Amsterdam alive. I was pretty tired, as I'd gotten stuck with the seat right next to the bathroom and the Nigerian man sitting next to me wasn't really respecting my personal space - he literally put his head on my shoulder while he was sleeping - but nevertheless, I was still breathing.
That day, I'd had several delays and grueling layovers, one of which lasted for nearly five hours. When I finally arrived in the UK, four hours late, mind you, I swore off air travel after I returned to the States.
I'm still going strong on my swearing off, even though my return trip was just close to perfect, minus a few wind pockets on the landing into Chicago that I sincerely believed were going to flip our 500-passenger plane over onto its top.
But after seeing the coverage of the US Airways flight 1549 crash last Thursday in New York, I feel surprisingly better about air travel. The story itself is quite compelling, as the pilot, Sully Sullenberger - seriously, how much do you love that name? - is apparently a pretty big deal in the flight world.
Sully was formerly an Air Force fighter pilot and has been involved in many different air safety campaigns across the industry. He handled the entire crash so calmly and smoothly that his name should and will forever go down in history as one of the greatest commercial pilots in the world.
I heard someone talking on Friday about why he landed in the Hudson River, considering it was so cold. As a swimmer, I've been forced into some pretty frigid water temperatures and I'm pretty sure I'd rather have hypothermia than be hurt or dead. Along with that, the crash was without any casualties or major injuries. This is a great accomplishment, as the plane was up nearly 5,000 feet when it started coming down. Aside from shock and being a little bit cold after waiting for the ferries to rescue them, I'm pretty sure most of the passengers got to leave straight from the scene. Heck, a few of them were even on some of the morning news shows the next day! Also, a plane of that size could have done mass structural damage to the city. It is New York, after all, and I'm fairly certain with as many times as I've been there, there really aren't too many open fields to land in.
Today, I toast to Mr. Sullenberger for his quick thinking and excellent leadership that made this crash, may I say, a success. I hope when I break my word and step back onto a plane that my pilot is just as wonderful as Sully.
Kadi McDonald is a senior journalism major. Send her your flight stories at km134305@ohio.edu.
4 Opinion
Kadi McDonald
