As we get prepared for our holiday, I began thinking of past trips to Disneyland. We always have such a blast when we go. It's tradition for us to all go in together the first day and we all go on Pirate's of the Caribean first. So much fun. We have done one road trip previously, when Adam was four months old. Every other time we've flown. One of our flights was extremely terrifying!!
The terrifying flight began when we were flying home out of LAX. We had had a wonderful holiday and were anxious to get home. Matt and I and the kids were on an earlier flight home than the rest of my family. We were happy that we were leaving early in the morning and would be back home with plenty of time left in the day. We boarded our flight with the three kids. At the time, Adam was 6, Anna was 5 and Caleb was 3. As this trip was the first time that the kids had flown, we had explained to them about turbulence etc. We had explained that sometimes, when you're in the air, it can feel a bit 'bumpy'. The flight there was fine and smooth and the kids truly loved flying!
Anyways, back to the flight home. We were all in our seats. I was sitting with Anna and Caleb and Matt was sitting across the aisle with Adam. We got comfy as the plane prepared for take-off. The kids loved the feeling of the plane excellerating and lifting off into the air. We were on the incline, maybe about 10 or 15 minutes into our flight, when there was a huge explosion! The plane went sideways and all the power went out on the plane! I was terrifed all the while trying to remain calm for the kids. The right engine, exactly where Matt and Adam were sitting, had blown. There was a horrifying grinding noise coming from under the plane, but other than that, just silence. The passengers weren't saying a word; it was almost eery. The stewardesses came over to where we were sitting and asked Matt if he had seen any smoke or flames. I began praying out loud. I was holding my children's hands just wanting this all to be over. Anna asked me what was wrong. I was trying not to let her know how truly scared I was. I said that there was just a bit of turbelence. She looked at me and said, 'but mom, there aren't any bumps'. It just about broke my heart. Of course there weren't any bumps or turbulence, because at this point, the plane was just a glider. I told her that everything was fine and would be ok. The pilot came on a few minutes later. I'll never forget it. He came over the loud speaker and said, 'we FINALLY have control over the airplane. We'll be turning around and making an emergency landing back at LAX'. I couldn't get off this airplane fast enough. I think this was the closest feeling I've ever had to coming to death. The worst part was sitting with my kids and telling them that everything would be fine, although I really didn't know if it would be. It was heart wrenching to think that this possibly could be it. The plane landed safely back at the airport. There were ambulances and fire trucks waiting on the tarmac. Everyone clapped as the plane came to a stop. As we exited the plane, we shook hands with the pilot who's face seemed white as a ghost. As I walked into the airport, I cried. I was ecstatic to be on the ground again and was so happy that everything turned out well. We ended up staying the day in the airport. We met some wonderful people who were on the same flight as us. One man brought cookies and drinks for our kids and spent some time talking with us. One person said the only thing that would have made this flight worse for him would have been if he would have had his kids with him. We were able to finally board a flight again later that evening to get home. I was ready to rent a car instead of getting on a plane again. I was a nervous wreck getting on that plane. I'm glad I did though, and am glad that I've flown since. I still have a huge fear of flying, but don't want my kids to have the same fear.
Sitting in the airport after
our scary flight!
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