Death by Flying
I thought I would share Steve`s account of our flight yesterday, from Ushuaia to Rio Gallegos, a simple one hour flight. Quite simply, it was terrifying. The second part is regarding our disaster at the Buenos Aires airport a week ago, detailed in an earlier blog.
Alright, so normally I would try to avoid sending out two “bulk” mails back to back, but having just survived what some might consider to be a near death experience I am going to make an exception. We flew out of the Ushuaia airport yesterday on a Turboprop (Thank you guy for the Aviation lessons in Pensacola), that was probably only slightly larger than a greyhound bus. I began the trip thinking, that it was going to be sweet having such a small aircraft… I would get great views out the window, and change it up a little from the normal Air Buses. Anyway, Ushuaia, and all of Patagonia for that matter, is known for its wind. I could have probably guess after the not so graceful landing we had coming in from Buenos Aires last week, but… Alright, so the first 10 minutes of the flight I fooled myself into think I was indifferent to the retching of the plane, and the gasps of the other passengers, but finally I looked at Heather a few rows up, and said “Holy Shit”. The passenger next to her tried to reassure us that it was entirely normal for the region, but somehow when you are looking only a few thousand feet down at freezing plains and jagged rocks it doesn´t quite register. That is not even to mention that we were still at about the same elevation as some of the nearby peaks…. Anyway, with each gust of wind I held my breath as the fuselage of the plane dipped in yet another surprising direction. So that is what it took to scare me. I can´t really remember the last time I truly was frightened for my life. No trips to the mountains, no crazy death streets in Quito, or roads in Bolivia could quite do it, but the flight out of Ushuaia suceeded. I tried to make myself feel better by saying Guy too would have been spooked… but that may have just been wishful thinking. (Guy is a Navy pilot friend of mine for those of you who don´t know him). Past that, things are going well. I am pretty sure I made the Argentine news last week, because the pilots for the airline we took from BA to Ushuaia went on strike the day we flew out. Long story short, a simple 4 hour flight became a “life or death” fight with other passengers and airline attendants to get on one of remaining flights. I was interviewed by a reporter who asked me questions in English, but stared at me like I stare at someone who rapidly fires questions at me in spanish: Nothing registering, but you can see the cogs of confusion spinning somewhere behind the blank look. Anyway, here is how the interview went, add your best Steve impression to the answers:
Reporter: “So you are playing cards”
Me: Yes… (Shrugging my shoulders, thinking “what else do I say”)ç
Reporter: “How do you feel about the strike?”
Me: People gotta do what they gotta do to make their money right? (Shrugging shoulders again)
Reporter: “What are you going to do?”
Me: (Trying not to sound condscending) Wait. What do you think I should do? Wait?
I think that triggered the end of the interview….
-Steve
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