Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Musings on Mass Air Transit

As I sat on my seat on the airplane yesterday I thought about how routine flying has become. Millions of passengers fly every day.

I enjoy flying.  I usually sit by the window to soak in the unique perspective from 30,000 feet.  I also like to sit over the wing.  Yesterday I marveled at the clouds as we cut through them.  As we began our decent and the ailerons extended I could actually see the airflow over the wing.  It awed me.  Most people don't think about how airplanes work.  I don't think they want to.  In fact, I have seen passengers get visibly upset when Ross is explaining things to me.  I guess people just want to get where they are going.  They don't really care to think about how.

I have some rules when it comes to flying.

  • Lots of layers.  I hate being cold.
  • Natural fabrics.
  • Closed toed, reasonable shoes.
  • Must have water bottle and a snack.
  • I count the number of rows to the emergency exits
One game I used to play with my dad when we flew was to try and predict when we would touch down.  I remember one time predicting from 10 minutes out.  I still try to guess.  I usually start counting down from 10 as I stare out the window.  Yesterday I was right on the money and we hit the tarmac just after I said one.

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