I took off from the golf course ASAP, on the off chance I could get on the earlier flight. Remarkably enough, the 405 was free and clear from Newport to just below LAX. The United lines at the airport weren’t bad. TSA had set up lots of swabbing stations between the switchbacks and the desks, and they checked the bags for Evil Stuff whilst ticket arrangements were being made. Use of the Big X-Ray Machines took place behind the scenes, as at DIA.
I got standby status on the 4:55p flight, so had time to grab a bit at McDonalds. If I didn’t get on the early flight, I’d have time for chili cheese fries over at the diner.
Time passed slowly, but ultimately — huzzah! — I was able to get on the early flight. We taxied to the end of the runway, powered up for take-off, powered back down, powered up, powered back down, and over the flight deck channel on the headphones I could hear them calling an abort to the tower.
Huh?
The crew came on the intercom a minute later to explain that there was a light coming on showning an alignment problem with the landing gear tires. It was back to green, and they were going to give it another try, but if that failed, they’d have to go back to the gate.
Visions of the future flashed through my eyes. We go back to the gate. We sit there three hours, as they try different things. Finally, they put us onto a different plane … I looked around. We were on a 777, and were very full. Not likely they’d have another substitute. … Finally, they put us up in a cheap hotel and promise to fly us sometime tomorrow. Meanwhile, the later flight I would have been on makes it to Denver with no trouble. Just my luck.
Fortunately, we took off with no further trouble, and I enjoyed watching the flight status through my little TV screen, and had an uneventful flight to Denver, and got home in time to go to sleep with Margie (who actually let me sleep in this morning).
Now to catch up with the rest of life.
Okay… they have a problem with the LANDING GEAR of the plane and you aren’t screaming to get off the thing then and there…
If it’s a problem taking off, what could have happened when you where actually LANDING???
Too scary for me.
You, however, are a brave soul.
Well, I have a certain faith/trust that if things are not within the triple-redundancy of safety parameters, they’re not going to go anywhere with it. And the problem, as described, was not enough to make me worry.
Now, if they’d said there was a light saying the landing gear had fallen off, but they’d determined it was still there so they were going to proceed, then I might have worried some.