In our second attempt, we were even pushed out of the gate. And that is when one of the engines decided that it did not feel like waking up this particular morning. Deplane, bus journey, another long wait and we now finally got another plane to try and at least get us to the live runway. We will see what happens after that.
As we deplaned from the previous plane to get into buses(remember, we had already been pushed from the gate), there was quite some commotion. First, nobody was dressed for the windy cold weather outside. Second, there were lots of moms traveling with really young kids and way way too many suitcases to be carried on as carry on with so many young kids around you to take care of. Anyways, after helping two such families into the bus, I looked behind to check if there was any other kid left behind – and it hit me … Just the enormity of these double decker planes.
Even for a guy who sees way too many planes in a given week, looking up to a 747-400 from the ground level is awe inspiring. When I do some jumping to warm up before runs, I can barely count to “One Mississippi” while I am in the air. And here we are … This humongous metal tube with unbelievable tonnage will take me – and about another 300 of us way up there – somewhere around 37,000 feet. To put it in perspective, if up there, both the engines decide to quit, I can count till “fifty Mississippi” before I can get to the ground. (I am sure the fall would be fine but I dread to think of the sudden stop).
And on top that, this tube would be screaming thru at nearly 600 miles per hour for hours and hours.
I am amazed by the ingenuity of humankind. Which brings me back to my real question – with that much ingenuity, we cannot change planes in under five hours???