A Flight to Remember after #MySummitNA.

Hi Readers,

I am writing this hoping I get it out of my system and no more nightmare that I have after 17/Oct/2022.

Precap - 

I was excited before I boarded fight to be home for Diwali and few hours later, I was praying that I need to be alive. I never wanted to feel this but remember "You have limited control as humans".

#flight #emergencylanding #rerouted

During this trip, I boarded a total of 09 flights and due to 01 flight, I had to cancel and rebook other local travel plans and hotel reservation. 

After completing my 06 session in #mySummitNA in Orlando and attending ArcherPoint upgrade strategy meeting in Naples, I was happy to go back home for Diwali.

My family was eagerly waiting for me in India, and I wanted to eat and drink something Indian.

I took my first flight from Fort Myers to Chicago which went great. Had a sandwich and coffee in Fort Myers airport. I reached Chicago around 01:00 PM on 17/Oct/2022. 

My Next flight UA-712 from Chiago was at 06:00 PM from Chicago to Delhi India. This flight was supposed to 16 hours long.

As one of my friend Jon Long once told that you should plan your drinks to sleep in a longer flight. Remembering that advice I had my lunch in Chicago airport.

At 04:30 PM, I took my 2 drinks (IPA's), so that I can sleep for few hours as I board. Boarding went smooth. It was a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, and I had an Aisle seat in the center. As soon as I board my flight, I settled on my seat and slept with blanket over me.

Exactly 2 hours later, a flight attended woke me up and I replied I don't need any food. She said sir we have a situation, please tune to the Pilot Notification. I woke up and saw everyone worried around me.

I plugged my earphone and heard - "The flaps of Plane are not working which are required during landings. We are returning back to Chicago airport. We will be doing a mock drill for emergency landing. Please fasten your seatbelt and follow the instructions from flight attendants."

There were so many thoughts that ran through (possibly every passenger mind) after hearing that message. I saw people start using what's app on phones. I also go hold of my phone and I realized I don't have an internet connection. I checked with person sitting next to me to share internet connection and he said he don't have internet connection. I was curious to know if he doesn't have internet connection what he is doing. 

He said he is sending this message, and if for any reason we did not make it, hopefully the phone will get connected to a Wi-Fi and these messages will be sent. It sounds stupid but made complete sense to me at that point. 

I started messaging my wife about all the stuffs that I can think off but there were thousands of things running into my mind, and this is all I was able to write. Take care of our child and here is the safe password where all my investment details are saved. I wanted to write so many things, but I found myself with lack of words. 

The planed turned back toward Chicago airport, and the mock drill started. We had 2 hours before we make or break in Chicago airport. During mock drill they changed seats for few elderly passengers who were sitting at emergency landing doors. First, they trained passengers sitting on emergency landing seats about procedures and signals that they need to follow.

Next up, they announced that in case of emergency don't care about your luggage. Your life is important than luggage. Fellow passengers started chanting / praying to God for a safe landing. 

Crew explained us the Brace positions, requested to keep mobile phones off. If you are wearing glasses (like I have) you need to remove them. They explained about oxygen mask and other related stuff. I am sure like me everyone was not sure what's going to happen next.

As we started descending toward Chicago airport, Crew started shouting Brace, Brace, Brace and there was silence for a long time. Everyone was waiting for touch down without Flaps. As less as we knew about flaps, we knew at this moment it is important.

The flight somehow landed with a jerk, ran in the runway for a pretty long time and everyone was trying to hold themself in the Brace position as there were Jerks due to the speed of plane.

Finally, the plane came to a halt, as we heard the announcement that we landed successfully. People started celebrating and were happy as we all made it safely back to Chicago airport. You can listen how happy people were during this 1 min audio recording.

At that moment I thought there is only limited part of your life that you can plan, manage and control. You need to be thankful to almighty god that you are alive today.

As we departed the plane and the united staff provided some snacks to us, I see around that everyone calling home updating family members what happened and were happy. I was super happy that for first 20 minutes I was enjoying happiness in my fellow passenger's eyes. Then I also called my wife and told her about what happened.

What I see in Next 30 minutes is interesting 😂 

30 minutes ago, my fellow passengers who were happy that they are alive, they started questioning United customer support about how to reach home and everyone wanted to reach as early as possible. 

How easy it's for us as Humans to forget about life changing events? 

I was super happy that I am alive, and I was ready to accept whatever they possibly can do to fly me back home. At this moment it's not important how quickly i can reach home, what was important is I am alive.

After 3 hours of wait (as other passengers were taking longer time for alternative flight) I reached to counter. I took the first option that they gave me which was 06:00 PM next day to Delhi via London. United Staff also arranged a hotel for the night.

I thanked the Customer support staff for great Crew to Manage the situation and organizing the alternate Journey. Took my luggage and went out to get an Uber from airport to hotel.

I was dressed for a long flight with a T-shirt and Joggers with flip flops. As I came out of Chicago airport It was freezing at -3-degree Celius. I froze for 10 minutes before my ride came. Reached hotel, thanked God and slept like a child before I continue my journey.

Summary - 

• Share your Fellings with your loved ones. Don't wait, you may not live tomorrow.
• Don't be rigid in your life. There are some superpowers that have more control about your life than you.
• Don't over plan your life. Make daily targets.
• Be thankful to people around you. They have an impact in your life.

As people who know me and talk to me, when someone asks me How are you?

I have this standard reply - "Sab theek hai, Aapki Duwa hai" translates to "All is great with your Blessings". 🙏

I strongly feel that blessings from my family, friends, and my community members is why I am able to write this today.

Thank you all.

Regards,
Saurav Dhyani
www.sauravdhyani.com