Soap Box

You've been warned. This is a soap box post. No cute news about the kids or details of the illness they have this week. This purely to get something off my chest, and perhaps raise awareness (to what I'm not sure but it sounded good :-)).

Every so often David has slightly interesting stories about dealing with passengers on his airplane. Sometimes they are amusing. For example: 18 bright-eyed, and can-I-take-your-picture missionaries on their way to the Pocatello, ID mission, still with the MTC fire lit under them. Sometimes they are ridiculous. For example, the lady who wanted them to go back to the gate they had just departed from because she forgot her purse. Sometimes you can sympathize. Like on Christmas Eve and they have to divert for the night because visibility is too low. Sure, you want to be able to say--"I'm sorry that it's Christmas and you're not getting home. But it's either get there 12 hours late or end up in a flaming pile of aluminum." But, hey, it's Christmas, so you sympathize.

Then there are the annoying ones. Like today. Going into St George on an otherwise clear day, there happened to be some lingering fog right over the runway that made visibility too low to get in. So they circled for awhile, waiting for it to clear. When their fuel level reached the diversion point, they headed to Las Vegas. They were there all of 40 minutes while they got more fuel and waited for St George to clear. Now...in your mind does this scenario warrant comments like "Oh, I thought we got the good pilots today". Or (while waiting in Vegas on the ground) "I just talked to my wife and she says it's clear, whats the problem?". Ok, so....three things.
1--if you find a "good pilot" who would try to land on a runway covered in fog badly enough that he couldn't see the ground coming up--let me know who he is so I can make sure I never get on his plane.

2--It doesn't matter if you pick out your house out the window. No one is trying to land in your back yard.

3--Saying such things merely makes you sound stupid and gets the pilot's wife mad.

Obviously David doesn't get nearly as upset as I do, he can shrug it off and knows he did his job and kept everyone safe. Even the stupid people. Me, I get defensive of my sweetheart and frustrated at impatient people.

Oh. Then there is the comment when they do actually land of (with sarcasm) "It looks clear NOW." Uh, yeah, smartie pants. Of course it's clear now--or you would probably still be back in VEGAS. DUH.

Ok, that's all. It's off my chest. Now I can go get a cat nap before I have to be up with one of the sick kids. Poor sweeties are miserable.