That was an E Ticket ride (if you remember those from Disneyland). We lifted off at lightning speed from the wind at RDD. Up through rain, hail, snow, freezing rain until we finally got up into the thick cloudtop that was just like speedbumps every 2 minutes. on our decsent into SFO we had a few drops that had to have been 50-100 feet per second. I was quite surprise everyone held together without screaming. Touchdown at SFO was like landing on butter - so smooth you wouldn't think anything of the last 54 minutes of terror.
As I sit here at Gate 87A, waiting for my next flight to SAN, all the talking around me is about how "life flashed before my eyes..." and "I can't believe we almost died...". I remember snoozing for a bit through the speedbumps before the big drop, but I don't remember thinking we were going to die. One person even was even saying she thought she was in a WWII plane that had United painted on the side (not too far from the truth) and she thought the plane was getting hit with gunfire.
Oh the drama...just another day in the air.
Mr. Smith
