My wife and I own a home in Clearwater, Florida, which is about 20 minutes west of Tampa. A friend of our's down there keeps an eye on the place for us while we are not there. The lady called us early Thursday morning and said her and her husband had just walked through the house and we have an outlet that is arching sparks out the receptacles. She said they shut the power off, but what about the stuff in the refrigerator? I told her not to worry, we'll take care of it when we get back down there in February. Anyway, I decided to make a quick trip down there on Thursday to check things out for myself.
Instead of driving to Baltimore and catching a flight on United for free, I decided to fly out of Harrisburg on Allegiant Airlines for $87.00 one-way. We had just got pushed back from the gate when the pilot made the announcement that he has decided to have the plane deiced before departing. It had just started to snow lightly, maybe 15 minutes before we were pushed back. Well, a lot of the passengers around me started moaning about being late and they didn't understand the need to be deiced because it had just started snowing and they took off in worse weather when it was snowing and blah, blah, blah. I finally spoke up and said , "Hey, do any of you realize that there are sensors in the front of the engines and on the wings that if blocked, they will give false readings to the pilots and instead of being in the Hudson, we'll be in the Susquehanna," which is the river adjacent to the airport.
The plane got suddenly quiet when one guy spoke up and said, "What are you, a pilot?" I said that I was until I retired five years ago. I told them that when they get off the plane to be sure to thank the pilots for their diligence. They may have just saved our lives. I actually was applauded, even by the Flight Attendants. I am by no means a fan of Allegiant. They have a very old fleet of aircraft, especially their smaller jets, like the MD-80's. But, I have to give credit where is credit is due and this Captain did the right thing for his passengers and his company.
I just felt it necessary to make this known.
Instead of driving to Baltimore and catching a flight on United for free, I decided to fly out of Harrisburg on Allegiant Airlines for $87.00 one-way. We had just got pushed back from the gate when the pilot made the announcement that he has decided to have the plane deiced before departing. It had just started to snow lightly, maybe 15 minutes before we were pushed back. Well, a lot of the passengers around me started moaning about being late and they didn't understand the need to be deiced because it had just started snowing and they took off in worse weather when it was snowing and blah, blah, blah. I finally spoke up and said , "Hey, do any of you realize that there are sensors in the front of the engines and on the wings that if blocked, they will give false readings to the pilots and instead of being in the Hudson, we'll be in the Susquehanna," which is the river adjacent to the airport.
The plane got suddenly quiet when one guy spoke up and said, "What are you, a pilot?" I said that I was until I retired five years ago. I told them that when they get off the plane to be sure to thank the pilots for their diligence. They may have just saved our lives. I actually was applauded, even by the Flight Attendants. I am by no means a fan of Allegiant. They have a very old fleet of aircraft, especially their smaller jets, like the MD-80's. But, I have to give credit where is credit is due and this Captain did the right thing for his passengers and his company.
I just felt it necessary to make this known.
