Today we flew from New York’s JFK airport into Michigan. Unfortunately there was no direct flight, but at the prices I got tickets for, I gladly accepted 1 stop. We got up around 6:15 AM, got ready, and headed out for the airport. We got there around 8 AM, which was perfect timing because the flight was scheduled for 9:05 AM. The airport was pretty empty when we got there. We went through security without a hitch, even though I had my laptop with some of the SCT equipment with me (car tuning stuff, I wanted to datalog the car for a few minutes…). Got onto the flight, and we found our seats pretty easily; the flight was not very crowded. This wasn’t surprising given the time of day…Once we got into the air, one thing we both noticed were how thick the clouds looked. Unfortunately, this was a glimpse into the future…
Our first stop was Detroit, MI. We landed, and walked around the airport for a few minutes. Everything there was named after, or themed after cars. There was this indoor transportation that brought you from one end of the terminal to the other. We used this to get to our gate. We then waited for a short while, and we proceeded to board the next plane. The destination for this flight was Grand Rapids, MI.
This was a short flight, but we encountered some issues…Once everyone was boarded, we just sat there for a few minutes, then the captain announced that he was sorry for the delay, he wanted to clarify something in the logbook, and that the explination was satisfactory to him. Great. So the plane’s gonna crash. Thanks for letting us know, LOL. Then, which makes things worse, he announces that we’re “going over to the de-icing station, where they’ll inspect us and de-ice us if necessary.” This is becuase it was snowing lightly for about 15 minutes. I’ve never been on a flight in weather like this before, so this instills even more confidence in me.
After the de-icing, we take off without a hitch. The flight was so short, that we literally got up to cruising altitude - which was only 14,000 feet, and the captain turned off the fasten seatbelt sign. It was off for approximately 4 minutes, after which he said we we’re beginning our decent so we could land. Wow. Short flight.