The Flight According to Flat Stanely

So after we get settled into our seats at the back of the plane, Christy and Jason each started crossword puzzles while I gazed out the window sad to leave such a beautiful country behind. As we rumbled down the runway I could feel that anxious excitement about liftoff build inside, which only jumped a little bit when I felt, and heard, the bump on take off. Thinking that I had felt that before, I continued my gazing in hopes of catching the coming Rift Valley lakes. About 20 minutes into the flight, the pilot came on the loudspeaker and announced that we had to return to Addis because of a mechanical malfunction. He said that we were heading straight back there. Well, because I was looking out the window the whole time, I was the first to realize that we began to merely circle Addis at the same altitude instead of descend as the pilot had indicated we would be doing. All the while, Jason and Christy are doing their crossword puzzles, with the occasional look out the window. Finally, after about an hour of circling the pilot slowly started to bring us down and proceeded to fly directly over the airport, but at altitude. It was at this point that I began to get nervous because the pilot was tilting his wings back and forth and the plane was shuddering a bit, but this was nothing compared to the next two passes we made over the airport.

As the pilot was bringing the plane around for another pass, the flight attendants came out into the aisle and began to point out the right side windows at the wing. I thought at first they were locating the airport and wondering, like me, why we still were not on the runway, but then I realized that they were looking at the wing and that there was a bit of nervousness in their eyes. So, we came around over the airport again, but this time much lower. As we go over, the pilot tips his wings back and forth again, which rattles the plane and my nerves. I note that we are in fact very close to the airport now, but still not landing. Can we not land? Is that the mechanical problem? Is our landing gear damaged? The pilot does another quick bank to get us over the airport one last time, but a bit lower. This time there are the plane shudders as it passes right over the airport and now the rest of the passengers begin to wonder aloud just how bad it is. Out the window I see that the emergency vehicles are lining the runway awaiting our arrival…

The pilot takes us up again and by now the airplane is close to panicked. I can see the wonder and fear in everyone’s eyes and hear the prayers from around the plane. As we begin our approach, the pilot finally comes on the loudspeaker, the first time in hours, to tell the flight attendants to prepare for landing. We anxiously await. I’m sweating through my red and white sweater and hoping that I get to go home to. As we get closer and closer, at least it feels a bit better than the last few runs, but we just don’t know…and then we’re on the ground, safely, without problem and the plane erupts in cheers. I reach over and steal a kiss from Christy…ah, don’t tell Jason. As we slowly come to a stop, the emergency vehicles pull up alongside and get their hoses ready. That’s when we see the smoke coming up from beneath the plane. Why don’t they let us off, I asked. Nobody knew. The firemen get their hoses out and spray underneath the plane. One of them even gave me a thumbs up, which helped calm me down a bit, but I still wanted off that plane. Before we get a chance to get off the plane, the Nigerian gentleman sitting next to Jason crosses himself a few times and whispers something to him about being able to see his son again. Geeze. Did that really happen? After another 30 minutes or so, they finally opened up the doors and let us get off onto shuttles. It was then that we saw the back, inside tire. Torn to shreds. Crazy…but it wasn’t until after the free beers and a cigarette or two (don’t tell mom), that we got the full story.

Apparently we did hit something on take off and that was the bump and bang we heard. However, the pilot apparently did not know and it was the tower that called up to him after takeoff to ask if he left his tire behind. Whatever we hit not only popped the tire, but was kicked up into the fuselage, causing a fuel and hydraulic fluid leak. So, that is why we circled for 1 hour. We were dumping our fuel for our landing. And that’s why we did three fly over’s. The tower was inspecting the damage to assess our landing. In the end, the pilot did an amazing job of getting us down without blowing us up.