Are we screwed?

A few weeks back I was in a flight from Miri to KLIA. It was an early morning flight, 6.50 am to be exact. So you can imagine the sore eyeballs, puffy face and sleepiness. Everyone got on the plane in an orderly manner and we were ready to fly. The flight atendant even gave the strap your seatbelt, reposition your chair and stow your seat table speech. And judging by the safety procedure briefing, we would be in the air within minutes. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, not that it's easy but i did anyway. Minutes passed by and we were still not moving. Probably waiting for some late passengers to board, those bastards. Time passed but no sign of people coming in late. Then the pilot started talking. He greeted everyone especially the Enrich members, priviledged fliers, so they say.

Then he continued, "We appologize for the delay as it will take a few minutes for the engineers to tighten some screws on the aircraft."

Now now, that's not good to know. Of course it's almost a detailed info, an appreciated one, instead of just noting some technical difficulties, but that only means that some screws are not tight enough and that's bad. Especially on a plane. I'm on the plane! We all know what happens to passenger aircrafts with some parts loose, misplaced or mismatched. They crash! Just watch seconds to disaster on Discovery Channel. Any survivors? Yah, but they're well on their way to heaven, or hell! Think about ABC's Lost!

I was becoming restless. At one point I felt that I didn't want to be on this plane. Thats it, I'll just get off and get on the next flight. I'll just say that I don't think this plane should fly coz it doesn't have its continuum transfunctioner or something. Hell, it has lose screws! That's tight man...really tight. The few minutes became 45 minutes. And I'm still in the plane. The only thing left to do then was to ask the flight attendant whether we were ready to fly. Or ask if we should switch plane, not that there was another plane available but just wait for a safer one to arrive. They walked by but I just didn't dare to ask questions even they can't answer. Plus, everyone was getting impatient and I didn't want to create a scene. Everyone else could sit patiently and quietly, so why can't I. So I hanged the idea.

But what if I could make up something amusing that it might bring cheer to the uneasy situation. Maybe ask innocently, "Excuse me miss, is this plane screwed yet, coz I'm kinda late for something. You see, earlier the pilot said the engineers need to tighten some screws on the plane. So, are we screwed and ready to go?"

Yeah , right! It's Sunday morning. What could you possibly be late for? Well, church for one. Wait a minute, I don't go to church, regularly, hardly! I can hear a lady's voice on the other side of the line saying, "I'm sorry, please try again...tuuut...tuuut...."

I find myself with a cheeky smile, amused with what I have made up. Now I'm itching to strike it with the flight attendant. Come on, where are they? I gotta let it out! As one walked by I couldn't get myself to flag her. I might just freeze. She might not get the joke. She might tell me that it is inappropriate to joke about a plane's safety and worse, I'd be apprehended and interrogated. Another passenger might burst into a lenghthy speech on taking safety seriously. Maybe I'm not daring enough. Scared. Worried. Whatever it is, I now know that I think too much. I'm not sponsored by Nike. I won't just do it.

While reasoning and battling with the idea, I could see engineers walk toward and away from the engine. They might as well call themselves engine-nears. A few of them keep on coming and going, sometimes climbing the stairs to the cockpit to update or speak with the pilot. What is going on really. When will they fix the problem. I wished they would not coz then we would change planes. That would be safer and less nerve wrecking.

The hour left and finally the pilot told the cabin crew to be seated for the take off. I started praying. Not a common thing for me to do but it was a Sunday morning so what the hell. We taxied to the runway and before I had time to worry we were in the air. Good, let's just hope the flight is smooth eh...

Writing this makes me feel good because I know I 'm alive and well. There are too many crashes in history and all for very minute overlooked details that I just don't feel 100% safe when flying. Especially on light passenger aircrafts in a bad weather. Of course you could argue that more people die in road accidents compared to air crashes but to me, the events before the crash is ...well ...extremely horrific. Road crashes usually happen in an instant. Before you know it you're in a wrecked vehicle, dead or alive. With plane crashes, oh just watch air crash investigations and movies, you'll know what i mean. Myself on the other hand, have watched more that enough that I don't want to scare myself by watching any more. They are just too horrible.