Problematic landing

I flew to the country up north a couple of weekends ago and was looking forward to see friends and family.  The weather was quite turbulent and people reacted differently to the unexpected dips.  My neighbour shrieked at one point while I gripped my arm seats and my palms sweated.  Many people stopped chatting and the plane went quiet for a while, except – there is always an exception – for some giggles up front whenever the plane dipped.  Some young children thought this was very funny and giggled every time.  Ah, kids!

Now to the story of my post…  The flight continued on and the Captain announced that we were starting to land.  I fly quite frequently, and so was surprised to realize that we had not landed within a given time.  Just at that time, the Captain came on again with another announcement which went something like:

“As you have noticed, we have not landed yet.  Radar to the plane that is flying near us has been lost and we don’t know where it is, so we cannot land now.  That is why we are still where we are – in the sky.”

We all laughed at the way he put it, but I wondered whether we would not bump into the other plane.  After all, we did not know where it was.

We finally landed and some passengers jumped up immediately to grab their luggage.  The stewardess asked everyone to sit but no one listened.  She then shouted, almost angrily, for people to sit and there was immediate obedience.  The Captain came on the PA again and announced that the ‘thingy’ (I can’t remember the name) that guides planes to park correctly was not working and a truck would have to pull us to the correct spot.

I started wondering whether my trip was doomed, but I am happy to say that my connecting and return flights went perfectly.  I had a great time with family and friends.  I came back to Vienna rejuvenated and feeling more loved than ever.