Notes from 39,000 feet...

SOMEWHERE OVER THE SOUTH -- Great quote from a Japanese philosopher: 'We must embrace all pain and burn it as fuel for our journey."

-- Do people still listen to the "important pre-flight safety information" anymore on airplanes? I frankly let someone else worry about it these days. Someone younger who thinks clearer and moves faster.

-- And what about those people who sit in the emergency exit aisles? Now the flight attendants ASK them -- in front of the entire loaded airplane -- if they think they are capable of discharging their duties as an emergency aisle sitter in the event of a sudden, y'know, disaster. You wanna talk pressure. I remember the good old days when the flight crew was in charge of everything. Cutbacks ... They must be affecting us all.

-- In the one year or since I last flew, the reading of the pre-flight emergency instructions has been changed from a live flight attendant to a pre-recorded voice. Nothing is personal anymore.

-- Someone needs to fix the automatic faucets and soap dispensers at Midland International: not nearly enough soap comes out and the water shuts off when you're halfway through the soapin'-up cycle. Very annoying.

Comments

[Janie]

We should team up and do a horrors of flight story. Or better yet, I tell it, you write it. I have plenty of fodder, dude.

[Dan Hicks]

Really isn't much for you guys to write and complain about is there? You are gripping about washing your hand and not enough soap. Did you know that it was 130° F in Iraq yesterday? Can you imagine what it felt like in full combat gear? You know this is why we quiver in the shadow of the WWII generation. Get Tough!

[D Benton]

What about when the flight attendant briefs a 13 yr old demure lassie weighing 50 pounds or a 997 yr old grandpa about their duties sitting in the emergency exit aisle? aaah! Move them and I will sit there and I guaranteeeeee I will chunk the door 80 feet if we make an emergency landing!