Los Angeles, California
After what felt like too much time, our pilot finally came back on to announce that there was a problem with the aircraft. He then said something that you don't want to hear on a flight or in surgery: We're troubleshooting. But before that, he told us that the plane had lost the... elefantes? Huh? Our across-the-aisle fellow passenger leaned in. What did he say we lost? The pilot had a hispanic accent, to which my ear is well-accustomed. But the word for whatever we had lost had sounded muffled. At least I knew it wasn't a wing. We were now back up in altitude, and the passengers were mostly quiet. Our across-the-aisle friend was in texting contact with her husband and was relaying information to us. A lot more time passed without any information from the cockpit. Finally, the pilot came back on to tell us that they would be unable to land the plane in Monterey, and were going to land us in Fresno. Fresno? Dina, across the aisle exclaimed. Why aren't we landing in San Jose? Fresno is about three hours from Monterey. My friends, Brendan and Diana, were at that moment waiting at Monterey Airport to pick me up so we could celebrate our first night's dinner at Rio Grill.
Courtney turned to me, saying that this had happened to her once before, when she was living in San Diego. Her flight had been diverted to Palm Springs, and she had linked with some guys, strangers, to rent a car and drive to San Diego. That's what we'll do, she said. And she and Dina began planning for this across the aisle. I looked out the window. I didn't know what was wrong with the plane. I didn't know what was going to happen. Troubleshoot kept going around in my brain. We lost the... elementes? My phone was on Airplane Mode, but I texted Joel: There is a problem with our flight. I love you.
Courtney and Dina had a plan in place. Finally we were beginning to descend. The passengers on the plane was absolutely silent. I thought Maybe this is it. Maybe I'm going to die. And I never finalized my trust!!! I really did think that. But I also realized that I felt still. Not calm, but oddly still. And I prayed. And then I asked Courtney if she could do me a favor. Would you hold my hand? I wasn't about to go down without human contact. She immediately held my hand in both of hers. And she prayed outloud. Later, we joked about this: Fuck Covid! We're holdin' hands.
We landed in Fresno amidst a lot of emergency vehicles on the runway. But they didn't put us into crash position. I took heart in this. Dina had already said she would drive us to Carmel. She had attended Fresno State at one time and knew the road to Monterey well. By the time we landed, she had reserved a car from Hertz. Courtney was onboard with the plan and was keeping me with her. I was just a go-alonger by this time. When we were on the ground, I saw that Diana had texted me: Are you going to Fresno?!?
Once the door was opened, airport personnel rushed aboard: Omigod, we are so GLAD to see you!! A flight attendant was weeping. The pilot came back to the cabin to explain to us what had happened and why we were in Fresno. Fresno has the longest runway of the three airports: Monterey; San Jose; and San Francisco. There was also less housing around the airport, which gave us pause. They didn't want to let us off of the plane, and when they finally did, they told us to stay close. They were trying to figure out if they could fix the plane. Most of the passengers were saying Forget it and were making plans to find lodging. The weeping flight attendant, who was fairly new to her job, told us she was not going to get back on that plane. Dina spoke with the co-pilot. He explained, in his French accent, that the plane had lost its elevator, which stabilizes the plane and keeps it from flipping upside down as had happened with an Alaska Airlines flight which crashed into the bay near Oxnard some years back. The thud we had heard was explained as their attempt to take the plane off of automatic pilot. It didn't go well, he said. They had lost some of the plane's computer function at that time which was what they were troubleshooting. We really didn't know if we would be able to land it, the co-pilot told her.
Enroute to the Hertz counter at this very small airport (I suspect we were the only flight that landed that night), Dina asked us to watch her bag while she used the restroom. She returned with a pretty young brunette woman, who Dina had found in the restroom, shaking. She's coming with us. Dina got the keys to the Ford Explorer, and we were in the parking lot before anyone else got out of the airport. Courtney told me to sit up front. She got into the back with the newest member of our new group, Camille from New York. There was misting rain. Dina checked navigation. It says three hours, she said. I can make it in two and a half. And thus began our journey.
We were more or less four strangers. Courtney and I, by now, had a three-hour friendship going, aided by thirty minutes of hand-holding. Camille was thrown instantly into the mix. We navigated out of the airport and Dina shortly had us on the highway heading toward Pacheco Pass. I had lost two friends in a car accident on this highway many decades ago. It had changed my destiny. But that was then. This was now. Over the almost three-hour drive (there was a restroom pit stop), we shared stories that I am convinced we would never have shared with acquaintances. Stories of being in school near ground zero on 9/11. Stories of boyfriends and husbands. Stories of divorces and suicides. It was a profound experience with three women who were only briefly strangers. I am convinced that this experience could only happen with women. We all remarked on how lucky we were to have connected. Courtney kept repeating And I wasn't even in the right seat! And I thought about what it would have been like to be sitting next to someone who had kept to themselves throughout the flight experience. Someone I couldn't have asked to hold my hand.
Dina drove us each to our destinations. Camille was visiting friends who lived in Carmel and was dropped off first. We all hopped out at each stop and hugged. We had already shared phone numbers. At my stop, Brendan and Diana came out of our VRBO rental in downtown Carmel to greet us. It was midnight.
Over the next few days we group-texted each other a lot. Dina texted that they were expecting guests for dinner the next night when her husband casually mentioned: Don't you have a rental car to return? She would not accept our sharing the cost of the rental. The next day I texted: Is anyone else constantly ravenous? We all reported feeling some degree of post-trauma shakiness while feeling abundantly grateful for survival and each other.
Dina was home. The rest of us flew home out of three different airports on Monday. Camille flew from San Francisco to New York; Courtney from Monterey back through Phoenix to Austin. Brendan and Diana drove me to San Jose on their way home to Sonoma, so I could fly directly to Burbank. Parking and walking into the airport we immediately saw that life had changed. As my mother would say, you could have shot a cannon through that normally-bustling airport. There were nineteen people on my flight including crew. No one in rows ahead or behind me. I Lyfted home from the airport. Camille and Courtney both texted later when they had arrived home safely. It was March 9th.
On Saturday, March 14th, I had plans to have dinner with my friends, Connie and Curt. Connie texted that we should go out to dinner, so I wouldn't have to bother cooking. I don't think so, I wrote. With this Covid thing intensifying, I suggested it would be better if I cooked. I waited for them on the front porch as they drove up my long driveway. When they got out of their car, I called out Do we hug? Curt said no. I can't remember what I cooked that night. But I will tell you that it is the last dinner for guests that I cooked in 2020. It was March 14th. The Stay-at-Home order started a few days later.
We ladies from Flight 5905 have stayed in touch all year. Camille's mom, a nurse at Brooklyn Hospital, was one of the first cases of Covid I heard about in the community of the people I know. Sadly, Dina lost her mom later in the year, and Courtney lost her grandfather, neither to Covid. In our own way, we hung onto each other. I have a hope that we will have a reunion some time in the future. We know each other, but we really don't know each other. And it would be interesting to get better acquainted outside of a plane and/or a Ford Explorer.
Of course I thought the flight experience would be the worst thing that could happen to me in 2020. Remember the high hopes that I had for the year back in January? But I am also mindful of the friend who called out: I hope it's a good year! It was not. But we rode it out, for the better and for all of the worst. And now it's behind us, and 2021 has just begun. And what I want to write about that is this:
I hope it's a good year!!!
Happy New Year to you all, and a heartfelt shout out to the Ladies from Flight 5905.
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