Jan 31, 2012
Written by Wendy Sanacore (as told by Chuck Fried)
This past weekend, Chuck traveled down to New Orleans to participate in a small race with a bunch of his buddies. As luck would have it, they all were booked on separate flights back to Buffalo. So after arriving at the airport, he and his friends parted ways and he headed for his US Airways flight back to Buffalo.
After boarding the plane, they taxied out onto the runway where they received the message that they were the next in line to depart. And they waited…10 minutes…20 minutes…30 minutes and then some. Finally the captain came on the speaker with this message.
(Crackle, crackle…)”Ummmmm, it appears we have a slight problem.” And the captain launched into a lesson about how you steer a plane. There is no actual steering wheel. The plane’s wheels are operated by two foot pedals which then direct the plane which way to turn. Normally planes have a 90-degree turn radius. The particular plane Chuck was on was operating with a 15-degree turn radius. So the captain proceeded to tell them they were trying to figure out how to turn the plane on the narrow runway and make it back to the gate.
Eventually, after much back and forth on the pilot’s part, the plane turned and returned to the gate. Passengers with connecting flights were directed to de-board the plane and other arrangements would be made for their travels. So Chuck and about 5 other passengers got off the plane. They were given two options:
1. Catch a flight to another destination closer to their end location
2. Have the airline put them up in a hotel for the night.
Chuck chose to hop a flight headed to Washington D.C instead of staying overnight because he figured, worst case scenario, he could rent a car in the morning and drive back to Buffalo. En route to DC, the captain announced the plane will be landing in about a half hour and it became apparent that Chuck may actually be able to make the connecting flight to Buffalo.
So he buzzed the flight attendant and pointed this out. She said that she had seen that and at this point he is scheduled to take the flight back to Buffalo in the morning, but they are working on it. So as the plane is landing, the captain once again makes an announcement on the PA system.
He tells the entire plane of people that after the plane comes to a stop to remain seated because there is one guy on the plane who will get off first as he is trying to make a connecting flight.
So the plane lands and everyone stays seated and looks around. Chuck stands up to get off the plane and when he stands, everyone else takes that as their cue to also stand up and de-plane, and immediately the aisles fill up with people getting bags and preparing to leave. Chuck gets into the aisle, clears his throat and loudly says:
“EXCUSE ME, I’M THAT GUY.”
The aisles part and Chuck is able to get off the plane.
As he walks off the jetbridge alone, first off the plane, an airline worker hands him a newly printed boarding pass and says loudly while pointing across the terminal: “here, go, hurry, run to them”. He sees people at the end of the hall waving at him yelling, “hurry!”
He sprints across the terminal (sans bags) where he winds up at a gate with no plane parked at it. He is then directed outside and into a shuttle waiting to take him to the plane, which is on the tarmac. The shuttle must drive painfully slow as it is out on the runway now with all the planes lined up.
They reach a location where there are four planes lined up and Chuck is directed to one of the planes, and he asks, “Is this the one?”, as they approach a waiting plane with door open, and stair way rolled up to the side of it.
The shuttle driver responds, “we think so!”
As the bus doors open, there’s a flight attendant and pilot that appear at the top of the stairs, and he calls to them: “where are we going”? as he slowly jogs to the plane, and up the steps.
They respond, “Buffalo.”
Chuck says, “I’d rather go somewhere warmer!”
They respond, “Get on the plane!”
So Chuck boards the plane and sits in seat 1C, at the front of the plane, with everyone on the plane watching him.
The flight attendant asks him, “Who are you that they did this for you?”
Chuck laughs and said, “I am nobody, just trying to get home.”
We told him this was the perfect time to tell them that he was the President…of TxMQ!
We can’t wait to hear if his bag has any interesting stories to tell. It’s still not back home yet!
