my 100th post!

and it gets to be about an adventure! one that didn't kill me...yay!

it was an interesting flight into slc....the plane was getting ready to land- we were about to touch down- and then the plane took a sharp nose turn upward- power boost the engines and up we went. ?!? i was sitting on the left side of the plane a few rows in front of the wing, beside the window. i looked at my elderly seat companion and said, 'ummm...trouble' ...looked out the window and watched as we flew closer to a lake and then added while pointing to the water, 'plan B' :)

around me people were appreciative about the humor cuz the tension about what was happening was growing. the pilot then came on and told us that the landing gear was not giving a safe reading. he told us that another captain (riding as a passenger) was going to come through the cabin area and climb down through a floor door (a few rows behind mine) and try to get a look at the landing gear through a periscope. we then watched the captain appear and find the door and then...disappear. meanwhile the plane just circled the area- i'm sure by this time the entire area was cleared for our plane.

eventually the capt. came back out and as he was walking past my row he said he couldn't see anything. he then went into the cockpit to talk with our capt. soon enough, our flight capt came back on and told us that the attempt to see through the periscope had not been successful because too much light was coming in and hitting the mirrors, making the ability to see, impossible. meanwhile, the capt of our flight had flown past the control tower and they, with their binoculars, had witnessed that our landing gear was down and appeared ready for use.

about this time i had turned my phone on and sent a to text mom- letting her know that there was a problem. she is still laughing that all i said was, 'there is a problem with our landing gear'. and then i shut off my phone. she thought i should have said my loves and goodbyes...lol well, to be honest, i never felt that things would not turn out ok- or i would have!

the capt. then told us that they were going to manually put the landing gear down, just to be extra cautious and that when we landed it might drag on the runway making a loud sound. he also gave us other scenerios, such as the landing gear not holding up on the left side (mine) and it that occured the wing would hit the runway. we were told to leave everything under the seat upon landing and to be prepared to exit the emergency exits taking none of our belongings with us. i suppose that meant the big air slides. anyway- we landed and i think collectively we all held our breath to see what might happen- but the gear held and we let out our breath while many clapped for the crews efforts.

as we began to slow down, i noticed the emergency crews that were there waiting for us- fire engines and paramedics- but we must have been perfectly safe because after a moment the plane proceeded on to our gate. we were only one hour late :)

how's that for an adventure? and for a 100th post?