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Mis-connection
Editorial Mis-Connection
I
t was Saturday, May llth, and I was headed south to attend the Annual Meeting of the Powder Coating Institute (PCI) at Marriott’s Bay Point Resort in Panama City Beach. Those of you who have traveled to Florida’s Panhandle from the Northeast know that you can’t get there from here without changing planes in Atlanta. The first leg of the journey was uneventful. Delta’s flight left on schedule and arrived at Terminal T with plenty of time to spare for making my connection. The Delta Connection flight on Atlantic Southeast Airlines was scheduled to depart from Terminal C. This necessitated a trip down into the depths to ride the underground shuttle beneath the tarmac. Down the escalator, onto the train, then up the escalator at the other end. Atlanta’s airport was a hodgepodge of construction with new restaurants and shops in various stages of readiness for the upcoming Olympic Games. Fortunately, I arrived at Terminal C before the minor power failure, which put several vendors and the escalator out of service. The plane for our flight had not yet arrived, but there were several folks in the gate area I recognized as fellow travelers headed to the PC1 meeting. Among the topics of conversation was the safety of the DC 9 aircraft of Valujet that were using the other end of Terminal C. When time came for boarding, the plane had not yet arrived. It was about 15 minutes after the scheduled 1:30 p.m. departure that it made an appearance. By 2 p.m. we could have been boarding save for the nasty thunderstorm that had crept up on us. When it passed we scurried across the tarmac, evading the raindrops, and settled into our seats. The pilot now announced that one of the tires needed to be checked. It was a flat! “Will everyone please disembark while the tire is changed.” This didn’t take too long to fix but the airline decided to cancel the flight. A few of the passengers were given boarding passes for the 3130 p.m. flight; the rest of us would be on standby. They rolled out a larger plane and most of us were able to get on board, but the air conditioning was out. We departed and were more than half way to Panama City when the pilot announced he was returning to Atlanta! The weather radar had failed. It was subsequently repaired and we arrived at our destination late, tired, and somewhat disgusted with our misconnection. It wasn’t until after dinner that I heard of the tragedy that afternoon in the Everglades. The mis-connection just wasn’t so important after all.
Editor
I
t was Saturday, May llth, and I was headed south to attend the Annual Meeting of the Powder Coating Institute (PCI) at Marriott’s Bay Point Resort in Panama City Beach. Those of you who have traveled to Florida’s Panhandle from the Northeast know that you can’t get there from here without changing planes in Atlanta. The first leg of the journey was uneventful. Delta’s flight left on schedule and arrived at Terminal T with plenty of time to spare for making my connection. The Delta Connection flight on Atlantic Southeast Airlines was scheduled to depart from Terminal C. This necessitated a trip down into the depths to ride the underground shuttle beneath the tarmac. Down the escalator, onto the train, then up the escalator at the other end. Atlanta’s airport was a hodgepodge of construction with new restaurants and shops in various stages of readiness for the upcoming Olympic Games. Fortunately, I arrived at Terminal C before the minor power failure, which put several vendors and the escalator out of service. The plane for our flight had not yet arrived, but there were several folks in the gate area I recognized as fellow travelers headed to the PC1 meeting. Among the topics of conversation was the safety of the DC 9 aircraft of Valujet that were using the other end of Terminal C. When time came for boarding, the plane had not yet arrived. It was about 15 minutes after the scheduled 1:30 p.m. departure that it made an appearance. By 2 p.m. we could have been boarding save for the nasty thunderstorm that had crept up on us. When it passed we scurried across the tarmac, evading the raindrops, and settled into our seats. The pilot now announced that one of the tires needed to be checked. It was a flat! “Will everyone please disembark while the tire is changed.” This didn’t take too long to fix but the airline decided to cancel the flight. A few of the passengers were given boarding passes for the 3130 p.m. flight; the rest of us would be on standby. They rolled out a larger plane and most of us were able to get on board, but the air conditioning was out. We departed and were more than half way to Panama City when the pilot announced he was returning to Atlanta! The weather radar had failed. It was subsequently repaired and we arrived at our destination late, tired, and somewhat disgusted with our misconnection. It wasn’t until after dinner that I heard of the tragedy that afternoon in the Everglades. The mis-connection just wasn’t so important after all.
Editor