by Amanda Webb

Created on: March 04, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

"WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE! . . . .

My mom works for American Airlines and my Grandpa is an Aviation Engineer who specialized in designing wings on fighter aircraft. He is the man who invented the "inflatable emergency slide" to evacuate airplanes in an emergency.

Although since then I have traveled the World in Triple 7s and DC10s, the first flight that I remember was in a Saab turbo prop plane when I was about 5 years old. My sister who was 7 was with me and my mom and dad. We were taking a "day' trip to visit my grandmother in Abilene, Texas and it was in the Spring.

The flight over there was fine and we had a nice lunch with grandmom and granddad but when it was time to go home we noticed that big white billowing clouds were climbing to the heavens and my dad said we might have a rough flight home but we decided to go anyway since it was only about 30 minutes in the air.

The takeoff from Abilene Regional Airport was fine and we were about half way to Dallas Fort Worth International airport when it began. The little 30 seat aircraft began to drop and rise like a tiny cork on a violent ocean. Everyone was talking as usual, passengers and flight attendant alike. We really felt like we were on a roller coaster and me and sis were fine with it until a huge streak of lighting flashed outside the window where sis was sitting.

Sis threw off her seatbelt and jumped as far away from the widow as she could and screamed at the top of her lungs, "WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!" Well, apparently the seemingly calm passengers had been hiding their fears because the entire cabin erupted with screams, cries and prayers. The flight attendant quickly moved to her backward facing seat on the bulkhead and using those big shoulder straps, fastened herself down. That didn't make anyone feel any better.

Dad got hold of sis and reseated her, closing the window shade so there would not be an encore performance. The screams died out but an uneasy murmur continued for the rest of the flight.

We never heard a word from the flight deck but upon taxing at DFW mom and dad who were looking out the port side windows, erupted into laughter as we passed another SAAB headed in the opposite direction and the pilots on that aircraft were making faces with their thumbs in their ears, waving their hands like donkey ears toward the cockpit of our plane in obvious response to like gestures. Apparently the crews were enjoying the bumpy weather a whole lot more than the passengers. No other flight has scared me since.

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