When it rains it pours. What I mean by that is, when one thing goes wrong, it seems to turn into a chain reaction and it isn't just one thing anymore; it's 20 or 30! You can get all angry and annoyed, or you can just laugh it off and move on.
As an airline pilot, I have had main days of "pouring rain." A few weeks ago a I flew a 4-day trip all over Southern California, mostly in and out of LAX. Day 1 was perfect. The weather was gorgeous, the temperatures were in the high 70s/low 80s, our gates were open each time we arrived at our desitation airports; we couldn't have asked for a better day of airline flying. Our good luck didn't last long. Day 2 was our chain reaction of "pouring rain."
The plane that we were supposed to start out in that day was a bit behind, so we started the day out late. Because we were late on our first leg, our gate at LAX wasn't open anymore when we arrived, so we had to wait on the taxiway for a bit. Our break in LAX was now shortened so we had much less time than originally planned.
The flight attendant ran inside to grab some food, the captain to grab a release, and I stayed with the plane to began my preflight duties. Halfway through my walkaroud I realized there were passengers starting to board. What the--- apparently the gate agents just sent the passengers down and the rampers were going to let them on the plane without checking to see if there was a flight attendant on board. I had to stop the situation (not in my job description) and hold the passengers at the bottom of the stairs. They were not too happy, so I tried to ease the situation best I could!
We got that whole situation figured out, boarded all our passengers, started engines, and were ready to go. We got our clearance from ramp control to taxi out of the alley when... just kidding... ramp control asked us to do a U-Turn in the alley, go back to the bottom of it, and then U-Turn again to get out of the way of incoming traffic. Oookay... that's a little weird. But we complied.
Then getting a word in edgewise to ground control to get out of the alley was nearly impossible. However, we finally made it out of the alley and on our way to the runway. The rest of the trip went the same way; one thing after another after another.
We got flow from SAN to LAX, which we never get into LAX, and had to wait an extra 20 mins before we could takeoff. We had plane swaps in 25 minute turns, angry controllers, got stuck behind aircraft mowing slower than I thought possible, long taxi instructions, vectors taking us away from the airport, 15 mile downwinds, etc etc. It was quite a 4-Day trip. But I still loved every minute of it. How, do you ask? How could I enjoy working with all of that? Because I learned to laugh.
Instead of being annoyed at having to do 2 U-Turns in the alley, I found it quite comical. Who can say they have done that before? Instead of being annoyed at having to swap planes in a 25 minute turn, I told myself it felt nice to get up and walk around and stretch my legs out for a bit. Twenty minute delay? Now I have more time to chat with the awesome captain I was with. Telling the passengers they have to wait to board? Now I actually get to speak with them face to face instead of just over the intercom; I was able to talk to some really cool people.
So when you get those days of "pouring rain" step aside, realize how comical the situation really is, and learn to laugh. The situation is going to be that way no matter your attitude, so why not make it a positive one?
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