American Airlines canceled about 1,000 flights today because of problems with wiring bundles in MD-80s.
If you're one of the folks who's sitting in a lounge somewhere, reading blogs and tweets (following is the polite thing to do, by the way), let me just tell you this cautionary tale.
Last November, I was flying an American MD-80 from LaGuardia to Dallas. I was sitting WAAAY in the back of the plane; kind of right next to the tail-mounted engines. Twenty minutes out of New York, lost in some nameless reverie (hi, Connie!), I heard, "BANG" and immediately experienced something I've never felt in hundreds of airline flights: an immediate, STEEP bank to the left.
"Whoa," I thought.
Immediately, the captain came on the P.A. It was clearly, quickly, that he thought he was on the intercom to flight attendants: "Damn, we've got a problem!"
Sitting next to the galley, I was next to the chief flight attendant as she jumped up and got on the intercom to inform the guy in the left seat that he'd just stained the linen of about 150 folks: simple message, "You're on the PA!!"
Captain then came back on, and, with Hollywood smooth captain-voice said, "This is Captain _______, we have lost our right engine and will be getting clearance to land at Washington Dulles Airport. There's no need for alarm; this plane is designed to fly with one engine and we practice this condition all the time."
All of which I knew to be true, thanks to my airplane expert-friend Barry.
Anyway, we landed in about 45 minutes and all was well. Except for the eight hours of delay in getting to Dallas, that is.
My point, there's an old saying among flight-vets that applies perfectly today: "It's better to be down here wishing you were up there than it is to be up there wishing you were down here."
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