I have been flying several times a year since i was old enough to walk and that was, hands down, the most brutal flight i have ever experienced.
It all got off to an unusually smooth start. I even got to the airport early, which any one who has ever traveled with me can testify never happens. I'm usually the last one on the plane having jostled my way through security and bolting tword the terminal with my shoes in hand (stupid shoe rule!). But no, not this time. This trip isn't for me, it's for my mom, and i was bound and determined i wasn't going to make her wait or worry.
The plane was practically empty, only twenty of us or so, and i had a whole row to spread out in. The pilot warned of mild terbulance but for most of the trip it was barely noticable. In fact the whole adventure was looking like it was going to go down in my personal history books as the most unremarkable flight i'd ever taken until the very end.
There were 70mph winds whipping through the Coachella Vally as we came in over Palm Springs Airport (fun fact: at 73mph winds officially become 'hurricane force') and the airplane began to shake violently. We were coming in low for a second pass when we experienced a crazy CRAZY wind shear and we dropped like a STONE. People were puking, the guy in the isle across from started to cuss softly, but the kicker was when the stewardess at the back of the plane started to sob uncontrollably. Doesn't exactly instill confidence.
Clearly we survived. They diverted our flight to Ontario Mills airport and they shipped us into Palm Springs on a shuttle. But i am very VERY thankful to be walking around on Mother Earth.
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