There is nothing that I love* more than to board up a full flight of passengers, only to deplane them a half of an hour later due to a hydraulic fail... *(hate)
I tell you one thing, after the arrogant businessman, I didn't think that my work week could get any worse, but it did. We boarded up our flight this morning in Buffalo, and sat at the gate to be deiced. We had been sitting at the gate for about 20 minutes after that when eh! Steve came over the PA and said that they had an indication in the cockpit that we were low on hydrolic fluid, somewhere on the airplane. He then called me on the interphone to say that we were going to have to deplane the passengers and wait for contract mantainence* to show up.
*(For those of you who are not familiar with the term contract mantainence, I will explain it to you. We have mechanics at all of our hub cities to fix airplanes when mechanical issues arrise. We also have other cities where heavy mantainence is done. So what happens when we have a problem in a non-hub city? That's when we call contract mantainence. Sometimes they are mechanics who are employed by the airport, or other airlines.)
When I went to open the passenger door, there was some residule anti-icing fluid left in the crack, and it got all over my face. I had to rush to find some water to get it off my skin, and away from my eyes before it caused any damage to my person. I had to call the cockpit to get one of them to open the door for me, because I couldn't see, because I didn't want to get it in my eyes. I was extremely lucky that it didn't get in my eyes.
So we deplaned everyone, we found out that we had to wait for the next Chicago flight to arrive with a part that the mechanics needed so that they could add hydrolic fuel to the aircraft. So we sat around for over 3 hours. Luckily they took us off of our Nashville turn, instead of making the BNA passengers wait around in Chicago for us.
By the time that our airplane was fixed, they had already rebooked all of ourpassengers on other flights. That was including 15 people who were going to Cancun. We went back to Chicago with an empty plane. I think that I have flown more flights empty in the past 2 weeks, then I have in my entire career. I felt bad for our passengers, most of them were going to warm vacarion places.
So what did we all do for our empty flight? Changed into our normal clothes for our last flight back to Chicago. Ahhhhhhh it was nice to be in warm, comfortable clothes at work for once. When we got to Chicago, and opened the door, the gate agent looked at us kinda funny when he saw the four of us get off the airplane in regular clothes.
I am so glad that January is over. I just hope that things go more smoothly next month!
6 comments:
I am so glad that stuff didn't get into your eyes. I hope that February will be better for you.
Love,
Kat
You must have had angels watching over you :)
http://journals.aol.com/derasta/ADayInTheLife/
http://journals.aol.com/derasta/ADerastaCreation/
normally doesnt get better till june-ish... keep your head up dear
I shall remember never to be the first person to exit a plane in the winter months, as eyesight is invaluable. I was thinking we could add that safety tip as an addendum to Traveling Tips Part 2, but since Part 2 mainly focuses on nutrition, perhaps saving it for the upcoming Traveling Tips Part 3 would be more sensible.
We? Do you have a frog in your pocket? My blog isn't a group effort. LOL I have plans for upcomming issues of "traveling tips" one will be focused on safety for sure. I have been too busy complaining about the weather, to sit down and write more tips.
What does being first to evacuate from an airplane have to do with eye sight?
Sorry about your life as a Flight Attendant! I guess at least you are working at a job you love or do you?
Im currenly a flight instructor (CFII) with a college degree along with my mechanics license (A & P) trying to get a job as a First Officer (FO) which so happens to make less than a nurse's aide at any hospital.
Im sure you are familar with the slogan "SLAM CLICK IT?" Well, i am more than ready to "SLAM CLICK IT" on the career path of becoming a regional airline pilot.
Im not sure I want to live out of a suitcase and hotel room for the honor to say that I fly for a living. It's kind of like being a glorified truck driver in the sky. I know that the schedule/pay gets better over time. However, is the wait worth putting up with the B.S.?
I have several friends that are flying for such carriers as Air Wis, Mesaba, and Pennicale. They all say if they could do something different they would. I just wanted to see if you hear anything different out of your pilots?
Anyway........ Good luck with you job!
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