MY NIGHT FROM HELL

We have all heard the stories…..mechanical failure…weather delays...missed connections. I have lived my life flying from one place to another and have been fairly lucky. I fly about 10 times per year. I know that is not much for many of my readers, but to me…six or seven international trips per year and the rest domestic is quite enough. I have rarely suffered more than a delay due to one of the above reasons.
However, that was not to be the case on this trip. I left Florida on time, and arrived in Atlanta on time an even left our international gate on time en route to Santiago, Chile. But as the plane took off, the cabin filled with an acrid smell of plastic burning. Then it just smelled like hot wiring. This has happened before on takeoff, but the smell goes away. This time it did not. Something was going on. The flight deck called the flight attendants on a repeated basis and when no food or drinks were served after an hour, everyone knew something was up.
So one hour into the flight, the pilot made the announcement that we were making an emergency landing in Orlando to see what the smell was. Now wait…..I had just left Florida ….and now I was landing right back from where I had come. The really terrifying thing is that the airport was almost closed for the night and when we had to abort the 1st landing, everyone thought things had gone drastically wrong. We made it in on the second try with screeches and bumps and everyone listening for any strange new noise.
In all my years of flying, never have any of the planes I have been on been greeted by bright green fire engines with lights flashing in the dark. Everyone was told to stay seated until we were boarded by the firemen who would check for live fires aboard. It is a scary thing to see the heavily suited fireman walk up the aisle with his sensor gun looking everywhere and still having to sit still.
When he got off, the plane was allowed to pull up to the gate. Still we were not allowed to deplane. The airport was closed for the night and because we were an international flight, they had to call in TSA officers and Orlando Police before we could descend into the empty airport.
Then came the announcement that we would be deplaning to await the arrival of a new 767 that would depart Atlanta at 2AM. At 1AM we were deplaned an allowed to roam only the echoing Delta concourse. Delta employees then robbed the Sky Club and brought down snacks and water and set up shop at the desk of the gate we would eventually leave from.
It was such a strange feeling to be the only ones in the airport. I felt like Tom Hanks in the movie, The Terminal, where he sets up his life in an airport because he doesn’t have the paperwork to leave.
At 3:47AM the plane arrives from Atlanta. But wait…Delta’s gate agents have to remove all the service items from our smoking plane and bring them to the new plane which arrived bare boned. Finally at 4:45AM we were allowed to start boarding all over again. We took off finally at 5:35AM with an estimated arrival time in Santiago at 2:30PM…..only 6 hours late.
Well as I write this, we are still in the sky with a couple of hours left to go. Gone are my appointments for today. Gone is my luncheon in one of Santiago’s best restaurants but hopefully not gone is my hotel reservation!
Tomorrows is another day…and guess what….that means another flight…..to Punta Arenas at the southern tip of the world. After my night from hell….I do hope that the rest of my explorations go smoothly.