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January 6, 2010

Flying is not for the faint of heart

Shirley Caudill

I began flying when I was 11 years old. Some of my friends tell me they have never flown and never intend to get on a airplane. I will agree that flying is not for the faint of heart, but I contend that it is safer than driving on the highway. Just compare the number of plane crashes to the number of automobile crashes each year. We seem to think nothing of the approximately 50,000 killed on our highways.

There have been some scary moments for me on airplanes around the country, as well as in Europe. When I flew to Oklahoma City when I was 11 years old, we encountered a thunderstorm and it looked like lightning was dancing on the wings of the airplane. We were caught in an air pocket and unless my memory fails me, the airline attendant said we fell 1,500 feet. I was scared stiff! Needless to say, I was glad when we finally landed safely on the airstrip! When I flew to Germany when I was 23, we had to land in Gander, Newfoundland because of engine problems.

Speaking of Europe, one of the most stressful flights for Dana and me was the trip back to the United States from Scotland after two doctors bombed the airport in Glasgow while we were there. We had a hard time getting into the airport with so much security and all the concrete barriers. Men with machine guns did everything but strip search us.

We had seen photos of the two Muslim doctors who had bombed the airport and we were sitting beside a man in the lobby who looked very much like them. We were going to Nashville and I asked him where he was headed. He said he was a doctor and he was going to Nashville to Vanderbilt University for a conference.

The doctor sat across the aisle from us and was acting “strange.” He got his blanket and put it over his head like a tent. He kept wiggling around under there and I asked the stewardess what she thought he was doing. She said, “I don’t know but he is scaring me!” She did not ask him why he kept his head covered under there.

Knowing me, when we finally landed in Nashville, I asked him why he had his head covered... and he said the air conditioning was so cold he was about to freeze to death. Whew... that was a relief!

My son Dana and I have flown around the USA many times — to Hawaii, to San Francisco, to Portland, and Key West, to mention a few cities. My daughters Kathy, Robin, and Joni sometimes go with us. We have met some strange and unusual people in our travels... from all over the world.

Now that there has been so much publicity about terrorists, I don’t believe I would want to fly out of the country for a while. I cancelled a trip to Mexico. I would hate to get to another country and not be able to EVER come home.

The airlines are stepping up security but I know they cannot catch every thing that happens on an airplane. I used to keep a pocket knife in my purse to peel apples and peaches. It made it through security a long while back before they became so strict with things. I had forgotten it was in there.

They have taken my nail clippers though, and fingernail files. I don’t know how you could hurt anyone with nail clippers. 

They have also taken my shampoo and mousse for my hair. The lab tested my cough medicine to see if it was explosive. My son had to mail his knife home to keep them from taking it. He also has to go through extra searches because he sets the buzzer off with the steel pins in his hip and knee. It takes us a long time to get through security.

We may fly to Key West or Galveston, but not to Europe for awhile...

Shirley Caudill of London is a former newspaper editor/publisher and longtime freelance columnist. She is a Nashville native who has lived in Kentucky 40 years. She has six children, 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren and is married to a retired Army First Sergeant. She can be reached at gunnstar4912@gmail.com

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