Not Something You Do Everyday

Hi Everyone,

I have been away and off-line for 8 days. I hope you have enjoyed what I left for you to read while I was gone. I will be around to see what you have been up to of late as soon as I ...well... get my wits pulled back together.

I really can't say much about what I was working on (they had me sign a non-disclosure policy) but I was near Tallahassee, Florida and I did "sneak" away for some very interesting lunch breaks - breaks that included Manatees-spotting (18 of them!), Alligators, Turtles, Bald Eagles, White (yes, white) Squirrels, and even a rare Florida Black Bear.

It was a very eventful, but enjoyable week - but on my return home, the flight (Delta 1016) from Atlanta to Philadelphia had a wee bit of excitement - a little too much excitement for the passenger in seat 19B.

Taxiing out to the runway to take off, the right engine of the MD-88 airplane apparently started smoking and may have caught fire. The control tower saw the smoke and the fire trucks came roaring down the taxi-way. The first hint I had of any trouble was seeing a firetruck pass beneath the wing of the airplane and slam on its brakes.


The next thing that happened was someone shouted, "The plane is on fire - get out! now!" There was no smoke inside the plane. People looked around confused and a bit dazed. But the flight attendant hustled down the aisle and said, "Open the emergency doors now and get out!" I got up and jumped down the rear slide since the emergency exit over the wing was blocked by a couple very large passengers.


I am very glad they didn't need all these trucks. This picture taken from the grassy area between the taxiway and the runway.


This picture shows the engine that went up in smoke - taken from the bus. Notice the two emergency exit doors on the wing. My seat was on the other side of plane about a row or two in front of the forward emergency door over the wing.

We were all loaded onto a big bus and taken back to the terminal where mayhem ensued for about two hours - and then we boarded another airplane and flew on to Philadelphia.

I was to be home about 8:00 PM but it was just after 1:00 AM this Sunday morning that I staggered in the front door.

In the news - here and here.

Despite the news-spin - several people were indeed injured, I saw one man with a bloody face after he went down the slide with three of his very young children in his arms - no one apparently seriously though. I was mostly, "shaken, not stirred."