Flying Mile High Chapter 11
#20 of Flying Mile High
12:28pm. Sydney time: Joe sat next to his first officer as the crew bus drove him to their plane. He looked out the window and watched the parked planes at the gates. A United Airlines 747-400 came to a stop at a gate, and shutdown its engines. Joe could picture the 428 passengers waddling off the plane after being cramped in a tiny seat, fed food that would make rats puke and being harassed by grumpy flight attendants who could be as old as their great-grandmothers.
The bus drove past the domestic terminal which was only 4 minutes away from Air Tangara's VIP building. One plane Joe noticed in particular was an Air Tangara A340, parked at gate 13. The plane had painted handprints of many children all over the wings, engines and fuselage. This came along with the caption 'Love Can Be Felt Without Sight and Sound'. Little did he know Gwen was in the cockpit of that plane, doing the pre-flight checks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Captain sat himself in the left hand seat and pressed a button to move the seat forward. He had done the walk around and had confirmed that the plane appeared safe for flying. He noticed Gwen was looking a little unwell, as she didn't seem to move.
"You alright sweetie?". Asked the Captain.
Gwen just stared straight ahead.
"I guess". Replied Gwen.
"Nonsense!. You must be hungover, aren't ya?". Chuckled the Captain. He gave Gwen a gentle punch on her shoulder. Gwen turned her head to the old horse.
"How did you know?". Asked Gwen.
The Captain was now laughing hysterically.
"You dogs can be so silly from time to time. I was once your age, now don't forget that!. When I used to work with the good ol' Trans Australian Airlines, we used to party with loads of booze and knock up our flight attendants till sunrise. The worst case was when I woke up with my training captain the next morning. Wasn't the best thing that could happen but heck!. He promoted me to Captain without an exam. I may be 64, and I may have less than a year before I'm forced to retire, they can kiss my wrinkled ass when they call me old gramps!".
Gwen was now laughing hysterically, as she heard the Captain's short life story.
"My boyfriend and I called flight-ops on the way to the airport to tell them we're hungover so we couldn't fly. They hung up and sent us a text message".
Gwen passed him her mobile to show him the message she received.
'Fuck you!. You are flying the goddamned plane to Perth. Period'.
The horse started laughing hysterically again and tossed her back her phone.
"Wow!. Kids these days!. Your generation really cracks me up!".
Gwen smiled at his remark, but she was slightly offended by it. Gwen checked her watch and realised that boarding will be ending soon.
"Captain, we shoul.....".
The Captain started laughing again and cut her off midspeech.
"Oh god!. Hahaha!. You should never call me Captain!. Otherwise you make feel like you're my bitch!. Call me by my name, Willia... Scratch that, call me Bob!. Cause I got the magic to turn everything to gold!".
Gwen laughed at Bob's comment. He somehow made her forget about her irritating headache.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sarah opened the fridge to make sure the self-serve mini bar was in stock. She took a wine bucket out of the pantry and filled it with ice. Then she placed in a bottle of Hunter Valley red wine. The passenger specifically requested for no lunch to be served, so this should be an easy flight for her. The interphone began to ring so Sarah picked it up.
"Sarah, this is Joe. The limousine carrying the VIP passenger has just arrived".
Sarah went to the side of the kitchen and pressed the boarding button on the LCD screen. Beethoven's Minuet started playing through the speakers and the passenger's TV set illuminated, showing a live broadcast of CNN. Joe appeared, and gestured Sarah to join him and the two of them stepped off the plane. The valet of the limousine opened the door and a wolf wearing sunglasses stepped out of the vehicle.
"Good Afternoon Sir. My name is Joseph Williams. I am the captain aboard this flight. Welcome aboard our company's brand new Gulfstream 650. Or if you prefer, you can call it the G6".
"My name is Sa.......".
The wolf placed a finger on Sarah's lips and hushed her.
"Sarah, let's go out on a date to Hobart. Shall we?".
The wolf removed his sunglasses and revealed his true identity. It was Jonathan Felini, the renowned magician she'd met.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bob made a welcome announcement to the passengers, as the ground crew pushed the flying machine away from the terminal.
"Ladies and gentlemen. This is your Captain speaking. Welcome aboard Air Tangara flight 178 from Sydney to Perth. My name is William Heathers, and the co-pilot for this flight is Miss Gweneth Miles. We apologise for the delay and any inconvenience it may have caused you. Each passenger will be compensated with travel vouchers for future use. Today we have good weather, along with some tailwinds en-route so we hope to arrive at Perth slightly earlier than planned. I'd like to ask that you please pay attention to the flight attendants who are about to make a safety demonstration on-board our Airbus A340-300. Otherwise, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride on Air Tangara".
Bob got off the interphone, just in time for the ground crew to make a notification to the crew.
"Tangara 178. You are cleared to start engines 1 and 2".
Gwen switched the engine mode switch to ignition/start mode and turned on the engine master for engines 1 and 2.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Janice made her way to the middle area of her cabin section to do the safety briefing. As usual, most of the passengers were asleep or reading the newspaper already. Janice laid the props on the cabin floor and was ready to dance with the safety video.
Captain Morris Rocks appeared on the seatback TV, standing on the wing of an A330 at the Airline's maintenance centre.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome aboard. For your safety please pay attention to the following presentation. For your own safety, please fasten your seatbelt at all times. To tighten, please pull the strap. To unfasten your seatbelt, just lift the buckle".
Janice clipped her seatbelt which caused two teenage tigers to laugh. She lifted it up to show the other passengers who weren't paying attention. She pulled the strap to tighten the seatbelt which sent the two teenaged boys to hysterics. Janice leaned forward to place the seatbelt back onto the floor. One of the teenage boys took the courtesy to comment on her ass, causing them to start laughing again.
"In case of an emergency, oxygen masks will drop from the ceiling".
"That's well hung!". Commented one of the teenage boys and they started laughing again.
"Pull the mask and place it over your mouth and nose. Pull the elastic band to tighten and breathe normally. Although the bag does not inflate, oxygen will be flowing normally. Please put your mask on first before assisting others including children".
Janice put her mask on to demonstrate the proper usage of an oxygen mask.
"Put that gag on bitch!". Smirked one of the teenagers and they started laughing again.
Janice was starting to feel awkward. She saw some of the other passengers stare up at her from their newspapers. Some could see her embarrassment, and felt apologetic while others were trying not to laugh.
"In case of a water landing, life vests can be found under the seat in Economy class or in the cabinet under your armrest if you are in First or Business class. Place the life vest over your head, attach the clips and tighten by pulling the straps".
Janice wore her life vest and started to attach the small clips around her waist and legs.
"That's quite a small FRY!. For a RIDE!". The teenage boys started laughing again at their childish remark.
"Pull the tag to inflate. If the life vest does not fully inflate, blow into the tubes for manual inflation".
"Suck it!. Yeah!".
Janice tried to hold back her tears from hearing such a remark. This brought back a scarring image of what once happened when she was walking home alone on the streets. Janice breathed in as she smiled trying to act strong amongst her passengers.
A passenger wearing a ski mask to cover her face was sick and tired of the teenaged boys' stupidity. She got out of her seat, slapped the two of them and shouted at them.
"This is not funny you know!. This poor girl is only doing the best of her job, and she is doing all this for you. Yes! You!. To make sure that you are safe in an accident. The woman took a picture out of her pocket and showed it to the two tigers. You see that?. Do you see that?!?".
The boys who were completely frozen, looked at the picture. It showed a young vixen in a flight attendant's uniform. She was beautiful beyond any man's dreams.
"That was what I once looked like. I was once a flight attendant but guess what?!?. My plane crashed. A man got out of his seat when the Captain was crashlanding the plane. I jumped out of my seat to tackle him. Fuck! I didn't want him to die!. The moment I caught him, the plane crashed!. My head hit the ceiling!".
The vixen sighed and decided to calm herself down. She continued her story in her normal voice. It was completely rasp and hoarse.
"A fireball ran through the cabin. It was the worst pain I ever had to endure. 213 passengers died on that flight. This man survived but was seriously injured. To this day, this man lives a completely normal life. But what about me?".
The vixen slowly removed her ski mask. She was no-where close to what she once looked like. Her face was completely bald. She had nothing but bare skin, swollen in certain regions, with scabs on her cheeks and muzzle, and scars all over her forehead. Her face was so swollen, she only had her left eye remaining.
"I'm a lucky woman. My sister was also my co-worker. She died instantly upon impact. My other co-worker is now blind. My husband was the Captain. We took him off life support 2 years after the crash. It's been 4 years since the accident and today is the first time I am flying again after the incident. If you want to make fun of this hard working girl. Do it!. But remember to laugh when the burning flames of this goddamn plane tear apart your flesh if it crashes".
The vixen turned her head to Janice who was now crying. This was much worse than the life Janice had to endure. The two flight attendants embraced each other and cried in each other's arms.