Bump Jump and Roll

In case I do not make it home alive tomorrow this might be a final entry, but more on this later.

I have arrived in Farmington New Mexico which for those of you who are not up on your geography is in the middle of no where in New Mexico, about four hours from Albuquerque. A town of about 40,000 was hosting a reasonably sized technology conference of a few hundred people and requested a presentation from me. Now although I have mentioned before that I have upgraded my wardrobe slightly, me in a full suit and tie in the middle of New Mexico was like horns on a bunny. Anyway the presentation went well and I get to fly home tomorrow, but now we return to my sedate sentence from the start. Flying into Farmington is like no experience I have had since I was in a small prop plane hit by lightning and forced to take an emergency landing.

The setting, I am leaving from Phoenix to Farmington in a small prop jet of approximately 8 seats. Approaching the plane all the cockpit windows are covered with safety briefing cards to keep the plane relatively cool in the desert heat. The captain of the plane actually was the one to take our bags and put them in the back, and hands out bottles of water and air sickness bags before we take off (situational irony here). Wonder if she gets triple salary for pilot, stewardess, and grounds crew. So I get into the plane and am greeted by a blast of freezing air, there was a major industrial host coming over the barrier in the back blowing cold air to cool the plane (see picture below entry). But no matter, I have been on small planes before. The hour long flight progresses normally enough, worked on my presentation and listened to some music, slightly after the announcement of preparing to land it all changed. Due to air drafts we begin to ride a roller coaster without rails or safety cables. Going over the most remote of deserts we begin to descend at most unnatural speeds where I learn later they try to minimize the turbulence. We get a view of the airport prior to a late turn and see this impossibly small airport built on a mesa, which for those of you not familiar picture a plateau. Turns out that mesa’s in the desert contain incredibly hot air, yet the valleys surrounding it are filled with updrafts of cold air. This combination can make for some of the harshest turbulence apparently in the country, well that and the coupling with one of the windiest cities in the south west. Suffice to say it was an experience that would prefer not to relive, oh wait I get to do it all tomorrow at 6am.

Nah, I don’t think we will crash but these thoughts do go through your mind when you are so close to the cockpit and the walls are so thin you can hear their animated conversation and the alarms from the controls. For one who is not trained in the sources of those alarms, well my fellow passengers (all men interestingly enough) we were all trading looks. Chalk it up to another life experience and wish me luck tomorrow.

Good night