On a Wing and a Complaint

"How far can this plane fly on one engine?”

“All the way to the scene of the crash. Which is handy, because that’s where we’re headed.”

Last week, I had such a fun time speaking to the Alabama Association of School Nurses in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. I had a post all lined up joking about finally understand the line in the song “Sweet Home Alabama.” You know the one I’ve song hundreds of times but mistakenly assumed was a comment on the sticky humid weather “Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers.”

That was until my flight out that inspired a callback to a great Ron White bit about a “near miss plane crash .”

A quick summary:

Last Tuesday, I was leaving Tucson at 6AM to hit a connection in Atlanta. We took off, and were on track for an early arrival. The long day of travel was off to a great start! Until a weird cranking noise didn’t stop just below me on the right side of the plane, some red lights flashed in the cabin, and the captain came on to explain that “An engine had overheated, had to to be shut down, and we’d be returning to Tucson for an Emergency landing. But it’s ok because the plane was perfectly safe to fly on one engine.”

Oh, and “When we land and you see firetrucks racing towards us, it is normal operating procedure.”

To the credit of the passengers, we all stayed calm. In fact, there was such an annoying lack of panic, so much to the point that people were already complaining about being late to their destination.

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“I’m going to be late to Panama City” was the comment from the woman next to me.

And this was BEFORE we safely landed on one engine.

Now, I am typing this, so you know I made it back safely. I was booked on a later flight, and made it to Alabama in time to get 5 hours of sleep, have a blast speaking for 90 minutes, and then turn right back around and head home. In fact, when I was taxiing out for my rebooked flight out of Tucson, our poor plane was still there, with its right engine all taken apart:

This little “incident” inspired a few reminders:

1. Perspective: We lost an engine, yet landed safely. And most people were pissed off about being late. Not grateful we didn’t perish in a giant fireball. Air travel can be a pain. I get it. But as I discussed with my friend,who also is an airline pilot, it is generally very safe, with multiple redundancies built in. And, in her words, it’s a “miracle” so many people travel daily, safely, across the world. She often marvels at the volume of air travel going in and out of airports regularly. Yes, being late sucks. I sure didn’t like getting in at midnight. But it beats the alternative. I guess those years of playing Oregon Trail taught me to appreciate the comforts of modern cross country travel.
2. Avoid garnering sympathy: Like that Ron White bit, it was tempting to say I was in a “near miss plane crash.” The dopamine rush of people’s sympathy is hard to ignore. It feels goooood. And in our modern social media age, it would have been easy to post something like that. But I resisted, because it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. In fact, I waited almost a week to share what happened to let me process my emotions and not fire something off the cuff. It was harder to avoid the sympathy, but I feel I maintained more dignity in doing so.
3. Reframe and get back on the horse: I’ll tell you what I didn’t want to do right away: fly. But I had a place to be, and I had no choice. When something scary happens, instead of stewing on the fear and “what if,” get right back to it. In fact, when I described the experience to others, reframing it as “wild,” an “adventure,” and “pretty cool the firetrucks met us,” helped me to avoid the negative spiral and fear that could have come from the experience.

Alas, that was my “adventure” last week. I’m grateful to be safe, and to have had the chance to speak to hundreds of raucous, fun, Alabama school nurses along the way. Plus, it inspired a fun post!

To end, I’d love to ask you: What are your wildest travel “adventures” you’ve ever had? Share them in the comments or email me back. Maybe you can provide some perspective for me!

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this humours perspective , then you’ll love my new book, “I Guess I’m a Dad Now: A Humorous Handbook for Newish Dads Who Don’t Want to Suck” or my old book: “Permission to Care: Building a Healthcare Culture that Thrives in Chaos ”! And if you want to test my travel luck, consider having me come liven up your event!