All the wives are shuffled into the auditorium to go over safety precautions and having a 100 women together there is lots of chatter! They get to the demonstration of oxygen mask, life vest yada yada yada...who really listens to those things?!? Well I obviously don't! What an ignorant person I am! We were then taken out to the runway and we took a group picture and then had split us up into two planes. We are all settled in the plane and we got a demonstration of them loading the plane and then dropping a load(from the ground) It was so neat to experience. So we take off and are in the air for maybe 10-15 minutes and my friend Melissa & I were the next wives to experience the cockpit. We get all settled and no sooner than we sit down they point out Mt. Rainier! It was absolutely beautiful but then alarms started going off! I had no chance to appreciate the beauty because we were told to put our oxygen masks on. I look over to Melissa and our faces showed the fear. We had headsets on so we heard what was going on. A smoke detector went off. This happened for a few minutes and then they stopped and we could take our masks off. The pilots then assured us it was ok and these things happen. We could see the other plane ahead of us and then it starts again...alarms and the panic sets in! My mind is racing I have a new baby, how is Nate going to care for them, will Nate remarry?!? As a woman my mind didn't stop of all the miserable thoughts and questions. If I could of I would've been hugging Melissa but I was strapped in and couldn't reach her. When they declared an emergency all I could think of was land this plane ASAP! When we saw the runway you could see in our faces we were calming down. Then they are saying 1500 ft, 800 ft, 200 ft and then looking out seeing all the fire trucks waiting for the plane was such a relief!
So we are out of the plane and safely on ground and Melissa & I didn't leave each others side! We are now bonded for life!
I text Nate and he doesn't call, it was around nap time so i didn't think anything of it but then time passed so i finally call him and tell him what happened his response was ...yeah. And so i start to say what do you mean yeah...arent you concerned? He wasn't! So i ended the phone call quickly and when i got home i ranted to him. As calm as can be he says Nichole this happens on a daily basis what do you think happened when i told you the engine blew.....HOLY SHIT thats what happens is my response! Its F*$#ING scary! He has to be extremely calm and have his shit together at all times! I have a whole new appreciation for what my husband does every day! I will take the stress of raising kids over being a pilot any day!
The next spouse flight is suppose to be in August....not too sure if I'll be on that flight:-)
Thank you to the amazing pilots and crew who were with us that day and all service members that serve us everyday!
I LOVE MY AIRMAN!
 |
| Happy times! |
 |
| With the oxygen mask on..yes we had time to take photos:-) |
 |
| This was happening in the cargo area! |
 |
| Safely on the ground! |
