My Dad died in a plane crash which took the lives of more than 130 at the time so I made vow to myself never to fly on a plane because I just felt it was the most unsafe means of transportation that ever existed. I was already afraid of height and didn’t just understand the physics of a thing so heavy with loads of people in it can still remain suspended in the air, I just didn’t have confidence in it so my fear of flying grew worst.

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The New Job

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I just got a new job in a multinational management consulting company, I got an email notifying on Thursday with my employment letter, terms of service and other stuff I was to print out, sign and bring with me to the office on Monday the following week. I was so happy about it because I really wanted to work with the company to gain high quality experience and I would be earning more than twice what I was earning in my previous place of work. I got another email from the company stating that they had a consultancy contract at Abuja the capital of Nigeria (I was based in Lagos) and that I was to report at the Airport Monday morning by 7am where I’ll be met with the lead consultant and that we were to fly together to Abuja, a drive will pick us up and take us to our hotel rooms and we were to be taken to the clients office by 10am. Woo woo woo!!! So fast, I thought to myself. Yes I had said I could work under pressure during the interview for the job but all this information was just coming in too fast the pressure was really on and I had to prove I meant what I said about working under pressure.

Background Events Leading To My First Flight

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I saw the email when it was already close of business hours on Friday, the office won’t be open Saturday, Sunday and by the time it would open on Monday I was supposed to be at Abuja, so I didn’t have anybody to talk to at the office as regards my fear for flying. I think I read that email more than 5 times to be sure am getting the information in it correctly. I didn’t want to create the wrong impression on my first day at work, as they say first impression matters. So Monday morning by 6:45am I was at the airport, the lead consultant came about 6:50am and was impressed I kept to time.

Inside A Plane For The First Time

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I was nervous while waiting to board the plane, the lead consultant had given me some material to read about the background of the organization we were going to be working with. I was looking at the papers but my thoughts were not with me. We finally boarded the flight, took our seats, the doors were closed, the speaker came on and the pilot introduced himself and told us details of the flight and all that, I could hear everything but my heart was pounding so fast it was as if I was in a trans. Then a young beautiful lady that I reckon was a steward came in front of our cabin, she was smiling at no one in particular she was making hand signals in response to what we were hearing from the speaker. Suddenly I heard, in case there is an emergency, the exit doors are marked… hold up, wait a minute, exit, in the air, exit to where? Do we have parachutes on this plane? Where is my own? Do I know how to use it? Why is this lady wishing us bad luck? Doesn’t she know that talking about bad thing happening is bad luck? Hope she is knows she’s on the plane too? I must have thought a thousand things by the time she finally finished. The only important question on my mind that I thought I needed an urgent answer to was how do I get out of this air plane now? Lol.

My First Flight

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The lead consultant was saying loads of stuff, non was actually sinking in, I gripped the chair handle as tight as I could, when the said pilot said we should check to make sure our seat belts were on, I double checked mine with great speed and griped the chair handle again. The lead consultant now asked if it was my first time of traveling by air, I nodded in the affirmative. He then said it was safe and I shouldn’t worry. In my mind I replied “that’s easy for you to say, your dad didn’t die in a plane crash”. Lol. The plane took off, as it went up I felt the feeling of my weight moving from my waist to my head area, my head felt like a void and when it leveled off my weight came back to normal. Once in a while the plane would shake a bit and each time it did I grabbed my seat handle tighter. I was wondering if they had bad roads in the air as they do on land too. Lol. I later learnt it is called turbulence. Food went round but I didn’t eat, I was just staring at everyone else and wondering what was going through their heads, didn’t they hear what they said about in case there is an emergency stuff, how could they act so normal as if their lives wasn’t important to them. I had only recently been married then with no kids, was this how I was going to go out? Will I be remembered at all?

The Flight Finally Came To An End

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The flight was to be 45 minutes journey and by the time the pilot said we were about to land, boy was I so happy and relieved. It then came as a rude shock to me when he announced later that we could not land because of traffic whatever and that he was going to I think he said fly round or hover round and make an attempt to land again. What!!! Who is guy pilot kidding? I almost went into a panic attack, but I looked around me and everybody was acting normal as if they didn’t hear anything. I started wondering if what I was hearing is different from what they were hearing. The plane finally landed and was tasking to where it would park for us to come down, boy, the smile on my face was so radiant. Lol. My heart beat normalized, I could think straight again.

I Became An Expert

Source

I flew Lagos to Abuja to and fro for 3 months until our work there was done, I became an expert passenger, knew everything I had to do even before it was announced, I could go to the toilet to easy myself, I could stand and talk to somebody I knew on another seat, I could have good conversation with people seating close to me about politics, sports, weather and other topics that were the issues of the day, I could eat what those beautiful stewards served us, I could pretend as if the pilot didn’t just make an announcement. And funny thing is, I could notice people who were nervous of flying. Lol.

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