The uninformed, perceived near-death experience

Dateline: Governor's Inn, Tallahassee FL, 27 September 2005

Readers will remember my accounting of a last-minute aborted landing at T.F. Green in Providence last spring (I think). First time ever in well over a thousand flights.

Today was #2.

As is my custom, I was reading BFA, burying my usual fears in the delight of self-absorption, when I noticed that distinct, bottoming-out-at-the-end-of-the-rollercoaster-drop sensation of having the jet power up dramatically, pull up sharply, and suck up its landing gear immediately.

We were definitely under 1k altitude.

Everyone goes very quiet when this happens, because you just know it's so not right.

What was worse with this one was the extreme bank the pilot took as we pulled out, you know, the kind where one side of the plane's windows are full of ground and no sky.

The combo was the most fear-inducing experience I've yet had in a plane (big turbulence doesn't scare me much, for some reason).

Naturally, the pullout/banked turn lasted a good 30 seconds before the pilot said anything. Lotsa time to think. I just kept waiting for a sudden ditching motion and I instinctively scanned the ground for a good place to land (pretty swampy).

Finally, after a good minute, we were level again and you lost that sense of the plane straining to get it up. You could feel the tension drain a bit then, and next the pilot came on the air to say the last-second abort was due to a flock of about 300 birds just off the side of the runway. As we were coming down, the crew of them lifted into flight and that spooked the pilot appropriately (bird strike being a particularly goofy way to go--almost Hitchcockian!).

So we swung around a full 360 and repeated the approach. No scare that time, and we're down without a hitch.

Still, the situation had me thinking hard for a good 20 seconds, which is always mind clearing.

Now, here at this nice hotel, tab picked up by host, listening to nice house band (very Dead-ish, bit of Skynard) playing across the street at restaurant where I'll eat tonight, drinking some free hotel wine, I am chilled.

Working tonight on brief that combines PNM, BFA, and overview of cybersecurity threats. Big chunks of the material contracted out to old and new colleague Bradd Hayes. I give the talk tomorrow at Florida Government Conference. Will work in a certain amount of Enterra, just because it makes sense.

Weird little scare. I almost thought of flying later tonight to take up offer to appear on Lehrer Newshour on Bush proposal to make military lead agency on homeland disasters. Got the call at 10am. But it was too hard to arrange, and with spouse feeling not well, I needed to focus on giving her some rest before I flew out (rather than cramming for a TV appearance), so I spent morning playing with younger kids at playground.

I know the offer came a bit casually: my book is on the top of the pile right now at the show, so I enter the expert-du-jour lottery circuit. PR people love to have you take advantage, no matter what the topic, and I would have held my own just fine on the topic, but sometimes you have to resist the urge to drop your pants the second the TV people call.

Later conversation with my PR guy at Putnam, Michael Barson, made me feel better. Getting some good media offers for the upcoming tour, including possible major net news show. Prefer to go on regarding the book vice just being current affairs expert, but I am willing to play that game.

Still, you know I was thinking during those 20 seconds about how I'd rather be on PBS right then!

Got articles to blog tonight, but no promises. Gotta get brief to my happy level and can't tell how long that will take. I am obsessive on this point, but I am optimistic it can be done.

Good news from Amazon just now: both PNMs in 4k range and BFA at 12k.

As my five-year-old Jerry likes to say: "Now that's what I'm talking about!"