Just do your job!
It’s either the older I get or the more times I fly, but whatever it is, I’m getting more and more apprehensive about flying. I don’t have a fear of flying, but it never used to bother me as a kid. I loved it. Now, though, I’m listening to every sound, feeling every bump and if I get a seat near the wings, all I do is study the undercarriage, the flaps, the bolts on the wing, looking for something that doesn’t seem right. Unless I fall asleep, which is probably better for everyone.
On our flight from Edinburgh to Manchester today, the pilot actually came out of the cockpit before we took off and stood at the front of the plane and gave a little talk to the passengers over the intercom. He seemed like a nice guy, and made a few jokes about how the safety demonstration wasn’t just something to annoy him, and how he was just about to climb back into his cubbyhole, and that the fact that the co-pilot was doing the pre-flight check wasn’t anything to worry about.
Then he ended it by saying, “…I just like to see the faces of the people I’m responsible for.”
That was most definitely not normal. I don’t know if it’s something he does for himself, or if he thinks it makes the passengers feel more at ease, but Jesus Fucking Christ! I was sitting by the wing, and you better believe I was studying the undercarriage, the flaps and the bolts on the wing. Until I fell asleep, at least.
