On a Wing and a Prayer

For my work I used to travel quite often to places in Canada and United States for meetings, conferences and training courses. I was used to flying frequently, but one trip was particularly memorable. In the mid 1980s I went to a course in Schenectady, New York, near Albany the state capital. The travel agent had booked a different route going down compared to coming home. While I was at supper one night, I mentioned the small regional airline I had been booked on to fly from Albany back to Toronto. The local people laughed when I mentioned this airline. I thought to myself "This is not a good sign"

I made a trip by bus over the weekend to visit an aunt and uncle in New York state. Then when I returned I tried to call a taxi to go to the airport. Someone had ripped out all the pages for taxis in the phone book and only wrote in one number. I had no choice so called the number and an old beat up car came with a rough sounding motor. He opened the trunk with a screw driver and then wired it shut for the trip to the airport. Along the way I wasn't sure if the motor would die. Then he called the dispatcher and said "How do you get to the airport anyhow?"

We made it to the airport and I headed to the gate and found it deserted. No other passengers and no one at the desks. I double checked and was sure this was the right place. Then I saw two young kids (I thought about high school age) around a twin engine commuter plane. They came in and put on their jackets and captain's hats and said they were ready for the flight. These were the pilots! I was their only passenger so we went out to get on the plane.

While on the runway as they revved up the engines there was a loud buzzing sound in a control box between the seats. One pilot gave it a whack with his hand and the buzzing stopped. He said, "Those stupid mechanics we have don't know what they are doing!" I decide to do an additional preflight prayer. With that we were off and flying.

We landed at a stop in Rochester. The young pilots headed off into the airport to look for a pop machine. (Obviously a low budget operation.) While they were away I overheard the baggage workers saying "Did you see last time those guys landed here? The plane ran over a baggage cart when it came around the terminal building." So far I am not hearing a lot of good endorsements for this airline.

Then the announcement came over the intercom "Now boarding at gate 57, ---Airlines Flight to Toronto" Of course I was still the only passenger. The pilots had found their pop so we were off for the last part of the trip. When we finally landed in Toronto and taxied up to the gate the "Captain" threw off his headset and said "We made it!" Why is he surprised??

I would have to say that was one of my more "interesting" flights.