Flying is one of the most vulnerable positions a person can put themselves in. Sure, it's one of the safest modes of transportation statisically speaking but it's also the most 'in-someone-else's hands' as well. If you don't like the way a car-ride or bus-ride is going, you can always have them pull over. Hell, you can even swim for it (although the odds would be against you) on a boat ride. But in the air, there's really no getting off.
Today, for the first time, I really really thought that we were not going to make it. We were coming into Denver from Portland. It was a perfect flight and I had been watching the Justice League cartoons the whole way and I actually thought, "I wish this flight would be a little longer." Well, then I noticed that the plane pretty much turned and then turned again. The captain came on the intercom and said that we were in a holding pattern. His reasoning didn't give me much comfort. He couldn't explain why. He even said it was nice weather down there. He said we had been given orders to remain in the air for another hour but we only had a half an hour's worth of fuel left. Scary shit. He also said that we may have to go to Laramie, WY instead. Even scarier shit.
Luckily, we broke out of my first holding pattern after about ten minutes which didn't allow me enough time to compose my last will and testament. It turns out that Denver was short two landing strips and we weren't priority. I still like to fly but it did make me realize how easily it could all go wrong.
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