Again, just when I thought it was safe to fly. The scenario caught on the black box recording of the doomed Germanwings airline flight is straight out of a heart stopping nightmare. My nightmare. Anyone who has ever had serious second thoughts about flying best take note; the skies just got a little crazier.
I, a traveler who takes a week preparing for the pain and suffering of flying with fear, have tried everything in overcoming this phobia I suffer. From sleeping pills and cognac to books on tape to meditation and projecting my fears into another seat for the journey. All these have worked for me at times. But then there's always a new threat to my comfort in the skies.
A few years ago someone with a tube of something that could blow the plane out of the skies was caught. Another year it was the old lit match attached to the shoe tip that had some fool escorted off the plane. Recently airplanes have simply just begun disappearing into thin air, never to be seen or heard from again.
This week's cry the friendly skies moment came as a real shocker to those who have no hang ups about taking to the skies. For us who dread and dream about air travel disaster, the horrific news reflects just one of the many nightmares we've awakened from with a gasp. So sad and unfortunate that the travelers aboard the Germanwings flight will not be waking up from this all too real nightmare.
In my dream, the confident pilot exits the cockpit and passes through first class, nodding to passengers with that all knowing and loving grin; friendly as a new born babe peeking out from a blanket. He tips his captain's cap to some as he retreats to the private lavatory designated for those trained and entrusted with our traveling lives.
All is well. Then a little unexpected turbulence........a little more turbulence.........now lots of turbulence as the engines make a stuttering sound and the plane begins to shake and shimmy.
The once smiling pilot comes racing out of the bathroom, no longer resembling an angelic babe but instead sporting a look of total green panic. Us passengers react with fear and horror while watching our once calm and collected captain lose his cap and cool as he sprints down the aisle and throws his shoulder into the cockpit door.
The co-pilot has secured the door from inside, overriding the door lock override. Some sick, predetermined notion inside the co-pilot's mind has him taking the plane out of auto-pilot and steering it directly toward the approaching mountain peak. With steady breath, clear eyes and no facial expression whatsoever, the co-pilot pushes forward on the handle that controls ascending and descending altitude. Forward is for descending.
With clenched fists, growling mouth and bulging red eyes, our captain begins banging on the cockpit door with all his might, screaming commands at the co-pilot inside to open up and let him in. We feel the front of the plane dip sharply, an increase in airplane speed and the push back pressure of a quickly falling descent. I'm blinded by the pressure. All I hear are cries, screams and prayers. The co-pilot never makes a sound and the descent never ends. Crazy.
A moment of silence is now in order for those aboard Germanwings flight 9525.
Lord, why when one of us is broken he or she turns away from your healing grace and chooses their own shattered will? Lord, hear my prayer.
