⏱ 20220711
♬ Astronoid - Stargazer
＃ panama city,florida
So on Saturday night at 2100, I got a notification from my airline that my flight from Wyoming to Denver the next day was 6hrs delayed. It might as well have been canceled because I would then miss my other two flights. So I called the airline and got a refund for the first leg of the journey and hurried to bed. I then woke up at 0200 and was on I80 at 0207 headed for Denver. It took me about 4½ hours to drive to the airport. I arrived in time to catch what would be my second flight -- to Houston, Texas.
So we take off for Houston. We land. I speed walk to the gate, board, take off, fly, land... yay, Houston.
The third flight is to Panama City, Florida. We board on time. We take off. I dozed off for a bit. I was awoken by a deafening whistling sound. I looked up startled and made eye contact with the flight attendant. She looked very concerned. Then the phone rang and she answered it, had a quick conversation with the pilot. She then announced on the intercom that we were returning to Houston.
Now, I was in row 2. On this plane rows 1 and 2 only have one seat. Accross the isle is the galley. The flight attendant came over to me and the guy in row 1 and in a quiet voice told us we were responsible for opening the emergency exit if landing ended up badly. We were also instructed to help the other passengers and if anything happened to her, to carry her body to safety. We were decompressing and the pilot was dropping altitude.
I found my zen. It wasn't a bad time. Just loud.
When we landed in Houston we found out that around the windshield in front of the pilot, the seal had failed. Once we climbed in altitude this allowed air to rush into the cockpit. Had the pilot not dropped altitude immediately, the oxygen masks would have dropped. The pilot may have permanently damaged her hearing due to the volume of the sound hitting her in the face.
So we get another plane and head to Panama City and land without incident two hours after scheduled, but everyone is pleased.
I come here every three months. Panama City, Florida is the biggest small town I have ever been to. It looks and feels like any small town, but with big city traffic. It was in the 100s today, but that is also normal for Florida in July. As I type this, however, I hear thunder outside. Let's see if this makes it cooler tomorrow.