SOLSC #26 - Hard Landing

For the fourth year, I am participating in the SOLSC and guiding students from my classroom and my school on the same writing journey. Here is the link to our school blog and the 15-20 students who are participating in the Classroom Challenge.

Hard Landing

Landing in Boston is always a little weird to me. Like many coastal airports, the approach tends to be over the water, and then about the time I start to get anxious, the ground appears twenty feet below and zipping by at 200 mph. 

Today, we were on final approach into Logan (Boston's airport) and I think we came in a little high. When the ground appeared under the wing, we seemed higher than usual and it was clear there was some wind by the way we were being bumped about.

The pilot brought us down quickly and we touched hard and bounced a couple of times before coming down for good. But it wasn't just a simple 'bump-bump-bump.' I was in the very last row and at first contact, we were at an angle and I could see the top of every heard jolt to the right in unison with my own. There was an obvious correction and the next bump caused every head to jerk left before we were airborne again.

In that split second before we came down again, a lot was going inside of me. Adrenaline started coursing through my body. My brain was trying to decide if it was just a bit of a rough landing and to stay calm, or if this would be a newsworthy event and I should let myself get scared. I waited for the next feeling of the wheels on the ground, eyes wide and brain wondering what direction the heads would move next. 

Every head nodded slightly forward at the third and final touchdown as the tires gripped evenly and the plane started to decelerate. My hand unclenched from my wife's with and extra squeeze and I made a silly joke about the contents of the overhead compartments probably shifting "during flight," parroting the taxiing announcement of the flight attendants.

It was not newsworthy. Phew!