Oct 22 2008
My First Time: To Fly, Oh MY!
My First Time to Fly was so terrifying that I could never forget. Ever!
I was just 17, and my first time to fly involved three aircraft, NONE of which worked smoothly.
LEG ONE: I look out the starboard side window and see that the outboard engine is on fire! The pilot announces that we have an engine going out and he is shutting it down, but we can fly on three just fine, he says, and we continue on (well, what else CAN we do but “continue on”? Give up?)
LEG TWO: We made it successfully into Salt Lake City. We wait and wait to board our next aircraft. Oh, GREAT….Bomb Threat! The announcer says boarding will be commencing shortly, having been given the “okay” by the bomb sniffing dogs (that we can see coming out of the airplane.) Poop time.
LEG THREE: Having been delayed for two hours in Salt Lake City, we have missed our Los Angeles connecting flight to San Diego. Yes, we are a group of 40 young Navy recruits on our way to boot camp for the Naval Reserve. All of us are classmates and going to be high school seniors–1964. This is our summer vacation ”adventure.” The “replacement” aircraft that the Navy has arranged to fly us to San Diego from Los Angeles, is sitting out on the tarmac. It has two engines and a little “tail wheel” that it sits on. Reminds me of the TV show, “Sky King.” We board. I get to sit on the floor way in the back, right on top of the little “tail wheel.” The right engine starts and coughs…dies. The left engine starts, coughs…dies. The right engine starts and runs. Sounds like a Harley-Davidson, as I recall now. The left engine starts…coughs…dies. The left engine starts…coughs…dies. The left engine starts…coughs…coughs….coughs…COFF! And DIES! Fifth Time is the Charm. The left engine starts…coughs…the pilot revs it up suddenly and we are moving….cough…(tail wheel bounce)…cough cough…(tail wheel bounce)…go go go! Yes…we take off with one of the engines still COFFING!…COUGH, COUGH! We are taking off from Los Angeles, California, LAX. Ever been there? The airplanes take off OVER THE OCEAN! I can see the beach….and then WATER! Poop time!
We fly parallel to the coastline all the way to San Diego. We are never out of site of the ocean surf hitting the beach. We are never very high above the water…it’s like we are on approach to San Diego the entire ride. A bumpy ride. I was ready to die that day. Made my peace and everything. A Navy bus was waiting for us at Lindberg Field. Boot camp was a lark. The flight home….? Uneventful. (But I was ready for ANYTHING!)
Maybe that was a deliberate ploy.Give you all one hell of a flight,
(and fright). All the guys would throw up,turn green round the gills etc. Boot camp would seem like a positive doddle, after that!!!
It sure was nice of them to finish the trip off with the scenic route,though. Have you flown that route since??
Hi there, and thanks for the Comment. I HAVE flown the LAX to San Diego leg a couple of times, and have come to appreciate the view of the ocean from above.
That first flight wasn’t my MOST terrifying. The worst flight ever was in a single-engine Cessna through a thunderstorm in the middle of the night in South Dakota. (I survived.)