The right engine was on fire...at 30,000 feet

I woke up to the captain's message over the PA of our CJR-900.

"We're experiencing a mechanical issue. Our right engine is on fire. We're rerouting..."

The cabin erupted with sounds of fear and anxiety. Dire uncertainty will do that to you.

I was still half asleep. It was after 1:00 a.m. on the East Coast.

We were somewhere between Phoenix and Detroit.

I hate red-eye flights.

The flight attendants were pulling on all their training to stay calm.

The captain shut down the engine.

After 15 years of travel, I've become accustomed to the duel hum of two jet engines. Flying on one engine was discomforting.

Other than leaning over my seatmate to look out the window, I hadn't moved.

I was anxious but not fearful.

Then the captain broke in...

"We've shut down the right engine. We'll be making an emergency landing in Albuquerque."

Great, Albuquerque, of all the places to crash in an airplane. Not my first choice.

The scene was surreal.

You wouldn't have thought anything was wrong if you didn't know better.

I'd already normalized the change in engine sound.

The ride was smooth. The Internet still worked.

Albuquerque

Two hours later, I lay on the concrete floor near gate A11 of the Albuquerque airport, my head surprisingly comfortable on a cheap neck pillow I bought on an indulgent whim in Phoenix.

I pulled the airplane blanket up over my head. The terminal lights were trying to compete with the Sun.

Every ounce of my soul wanted to be miserable.

There was no shame in being miserable.

...but there was this thought I couldn't shake, "Don't fall apart."

Esoteric and trite but honest.

I began saying this to myself in 2018 after I was fired from TrustedChoice.com.

It's served me well over the years.

In times of uncertainty, often simply not falling apart is the victory.

Landing at 190 mph

"I hope you've enjoyed the smooth ride because our landing will be rough."

...the captain announced.

A standard CRJ-900, with two operational engines, hits the ground at approximately 150 mph.

We hit at 190 mph.

The 40 mph difference might seem insignificant; however, with only one operational engine, there was limited reverse thrust to slow the plane.

Mechanical brakes would determine our final resting place.

We hit hard, bounced, skidded side-to-side, and eventually came to a stop.

The brakes were red hot. We sat on the tarmac for another hour, surrounded by the flashing lights of airport fire engines.

We had to let the brakes cool before we could move. It was 230am in Albuqurque.

Don't Fall Apart

There is no way to know how close we were to dying on that plane. My gut tells me, not very close.

But it's fair to say the possibility was greater than zero.

A long time ago, I made peace with air travel.

I assume the pilots want to live as badly as I do, and worrying about things you can't control has no benefit.

Worry is the gateway drug, the key bump, to falling apart.

Worry leads to doubt, doubt leads to excuses, excuses lead to darkness...that depressed state of grasping at short-term hedonic pleasures instead of embracing our responsibility to fulfill the vital role we play in the unfolding destiny of the world.

When bad sh*t happens (and this experience barely qualifies as bad) bend with the pain.

Lao Tzu, author of the Tao Te Ching, wrote more than 2500 years ago, "A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind."

When bad sh*t happens, the win is not to fall apart.

So, your airplane caught on fire, and it took 24 hours to get home when it should have taken nine.

So, you got fired from your job.

So, your wife left you.

I've had all these things happen to me. I'm still f*cking here, creating stuff for you.

Experience all the pain.

DO NOT do yourself and those who love you the disrespect of falling apart.

The Rub

The travel nightmare didn't end on the runway in Albuquerque. It would be another 19 hours before I walked in the front door of my home in Albany, NY.

That's life on the road.

Thanks to God for the remarkable execution of our pilots.

And here I am, back on the travel grind a week later.

What other option do I have?

Would you let the ordeal stop you from flying? Keep you from following your dreams? Dull the ridiculous experience that is life?

The world is dangerous. Full stop.

To believe otherwise is foolish and juvenile.

My recommendation: become dangerous.

...and never fall apart.

This is the way.

- Hanley

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