Hello my sweets! Yes it has been a while. I will post an update on the D-rama of my week later….blaaaahhhh blaaahhhh.
I was over at the FTLOB (for the love of blogs) site, and they started a weekly posting called-Prompt Me Writer’s Workshop. This week they said write about your worst plane flight….. And you know what….with the week I’ve had, I needed some idea inspiration. This really got me thinking!
This is a topic that I know far too well…. I have not been on a plane in over 5 years because of my “worst plane story”! Yes I am married to a man who is on a plane almost everyday, and am with him some of the time, but I DO NOT fly!
My whole life I’d flown a ton! When I was little, I was in a band that played out of state every weekend. It was a constant part of my life. When Jon and I first were married, I was on tour 100% of the time and suddenly started getting nervous while flying. Then came the ‘simple’ flight from LA to Tahoe:
In LA we were on the runway about to take off and the captain says. “Ladies and Gentleman, there is a storm in Tahoe, I personally don’t think we should even be flying. There will be no snacks or drinks because I will not allow the flight attendants to be unbuckled at anytime. This will be the worst flight you have ever been on.”
!!!!!!!!!!!!! KJDWHIXHUWS!!!
Jon’s band mates all looked straight at me like I was gonna fall down dead right then and there. I jumped out of my seat and said “Let me off the plane, I don’t wanna fly”
“Ma’am please take your seat”
“The captain just said he doesn’t think we should fly!! I don’t wanna fly!!!!”
“Ma’am we will call security”
“Call security”
The guys pulled me in my seat and said it was fine and the plane raced down the runway into the air.
Now I’ve been in turbulence….this was not that! It’s very surreal to be in a tube full of people screaming and yelling out loud to God! At one point the plane dropped so fast a baby almost hit the ceiling! I put on my earphones and listened to Tommy Simms “Let Me Write One Today” on repeat a hundred times. To this day that song is an instant mellow maker:) I concentrated on not hyper-ventilating.
Jonny started talking to calm me down. “Honey, I’ve been in turbulence worse than this.” “I’ve seen documentaries on planes. Did you know the wings have so much give they can touch above the plane and not snap?” He started spewing some scientific knowledge about air, gravity, force etc. He had a very smooth tone through the craziness that was very calming. So calming, apparently, that the woman in the row in front of us pushed her arm through the crack in the seat and death gripped Jon’s knee. “Can you talk to me too?” she said pitifully, as her husband white knuckled it with his eyes closed next to her. He had an audience at this point and she asked after his many knowledgeable speeches, “What do you do? Why are you going to Tahoe?” “Business” he said, “going to a conference there”. I was too scared to even question why he said that. I couldn’t even muster up a weird look!
As we landed, if that’s what you call it, the wind was so crazy part of the roof on the airport was blowing off!! They couldn’t pull out the sky walk safely, so we had to exit out stairs and straight into a bus. The passengers cheered and hugged. People were crying and praising God. The husband in front of us turned around and thanked Jonny for being there for his wife when he was uuuhh unavailable. He then said “You look really familiar.” “I’m a musician”, Jonny said “Yeah, I know you!” The wife looked confused. “Sorry, I didn’t want to tell you that I was a musician because they always die on planes”. HAHA!
We were driven to the casino Jon was playing at that night and the power was out. Hundreds of drunk people playing casino games, cut off and pushed into the lobby. HAHAHA now this is the crowd you want to get stuck with when you are crammed indoors for safety! The storm eventually subsided, the power came back on and the show went on. Many hours after scheduled and in the middle of the night, but it went on!
While on that flight I said “If I ever get off this plane alive….I will NEVER fly again”. And I haven’t…. We rented a car and drove home.
Jon’s next leg of tour, the kiddles and I will be joining him. Late though! We will be getting picked up in the bus because mama is a wuss! Yes, I realize there will come a time when I must fly again…but right now I am content with tour buses, RVs, boats cars and trains!
Oy, that awful! Not a fan of flying myself, no really bad experiences, just scared. I've only flown a handful of times. I flew once from Philadelphia to LAX and was fortunate to sit next to an airplane mechanic from the army. He was flying home to surprise his family after being in Japan for 4 years. Between him assuring me about the safety of the plane and listening to his excitement of seeing his family it keep me calm. I guess you could say he was my Jonny during that flight. (on a side note, that pilot you had should have really had a course in how to not scare the crap out of his passengers!)
This is so scary! I would have died.
Marti- It really matters who you are next to…
And yes the pilot was a moron. I bet if I had later complained I could have gotten free stuff!
Raquel- It def took a few years off my life. haha
Yes, the pilot was an idiot for saying what he said. I don't like flying either, at least if you crash in a car you have some chance of survival, not so in a plane. The last time I was in a plane was a flight from Phoenix to Nashville, it took 4 hours. It was probably 2 am before we left and for some reason I started to panic! I was flying by myself and it felt like the flight was never going to end. I put my head phones on and tried to think of being somewhere else, but I almost pulled a Rain Man on the plane. Maybe next time I will take something to put me to sleep.
That's hilarious that Jonny didn't want to mention he was a musician because they always die in plane crashes, hahaha…it's true.
Hi my name is Leah and I live in Sparks,NV (which if you didn't know, is attached to Reno at the hip :)). I stumbled across the Jonny Lang Band page on Twitter, and then found myself reading your blog! Oh my goodness I laughed and winced at your recount of flying into Reno!! And then did it all over again after I called my husband into the room to read it him. Reno is the.worst.place. to fly into! It's always windy!! Someone really should have warned you. 🙂 I used to be afraid of flying (fortunately I've defeated the fear), but my go-to plane music to distract me was always from Long Time Coming or Turn Around! Oh! and Jeremy Camp. Fingers crossed that next time you fly, it'll happily surprise you!
I laughed out loud when i read "I didn't tell you cus musicians die in crashes'. good story
btw the way i'm been a fan of jonny's since i was 14 during his first album.