Plane Ride

This past weekend was a weekend full of mixed emotions. It all started on Thurday morning, as we got ready to head to Huntington, West Virginia to play Marshall. Our day started off nice and early at 7:30am when our soccer team had to meet at South Campus to get on a bus to take us to the airport. From there, our flight to Marshall was not a direct flight so we left Memphis at 9:30 am and landed in Charlotte at around 12:00 eastern time. We then had a layover at the Charlotte airport for two hours until we could get on the connection plane to Huntington, West Virginia. As 2:00 rolled around, everyone began to get ready to board the plane. I was extremely excited to go to Marshall because I was going to get to see my parents, grandparents, and some friends because Marshall is only about two and a half hours from my home.

As we all got on the plane, we were shocked at how small it was. It only seated about 30 people, and it had propellors! Our flight to Marshall was supposed to be a quick one so everyone was anxious to get in the air, but once we got up in the air, something did not seem right. When I looked out the window it did not seem like we were high enough in the air, but I just figured it had to do with being in a small plane and only going a short distance, so I kept talking to Brittney, the girl sitting next to me. After looking out the window again a few minutes later, I noticed that the propellor of our small plane was no longer spinning.

Now I was extremely confused. Was the propellor just moving so fast that it didn't appear to be spinning, or was it really stopping? As I sat starring out the window, Brittney began to get extremely nervous at what she was watching. Brittney is always a very scared and nervous flier, and this was not making my situation sitting next to her any better. Seconds later, Brittney began crying when she saw the wheels of the plane began come out as if we were landing. It was an extremely weird sight to see knowing that we had only been in the air for about fifteen minutes. Then everyone broke loose in the plane.

An obnoxious man in the front of the plane began barking rude comments to the flight attendent whose eyes became very big as she realized what was happening. She quickly began to calm everyone saying that everything was okay, that we were heading back to the Charlotte airport because the plane was not functioning properly. As we quickly turned around and relanded in the Charlotte airport, many emergency vechicals followed our flight into the boarding zone. Once we got off the plane, we were told that one of the engines on the plane blew. We all sat dazed and confused on what had just happened.

After sitting around talking for a few minutes in the airport, I decided to call my mom and tell her what had just happend. She asked me if I had been nervous, but my answer to her was kind of shocking to me. In all honesty, I was not nervous or scared as everything unfolded because I don't think I was given the chance to be. I am always a calm flier, so Brittney and I usually sit together because she hates flying so much. As things began to go wrong with the plane, I was too worried about keeping Brittney calm, so I never really realized everything that was happening directly around me with our plane. After talking with my mom for a few more minutes, I had to hang up to listen to the news the airport was giving us concerning our flights.

They said that our flight would be delayed till at least 5:30pm because they were trying to either fix our plane, or find another one to take us to Huntington. As it turns out, they could not come up with a solution for our flight plan, so our flight was cancelled. With the sound of that, our coaches and the airport attendents went off to find an alternate way of getting us to Marshall. After our crazy flight, many girls wanted to take a bus, but instead, we got on a different flight at 8:40pm.

This made it an extremely long day for us. We left campus at 7:30am on Thursday, and did not arrive in Huntington until 10:30pm that night. By the time we finally got to our hotel, everyone was so tired and exhausted that everyone went directly to bed. It had been a very long and tiring day, but thankfully, everyone was in bed safe and sound!