A Near Miss

I was up late the other night waiting to go pick up some friends from the airport and saw something that was admittedly a little scary. The flat we stay in overlooks the runway of our towns’ airport. We are about a half a mile away, and essentially directly to the side of the runway, giving me a great view of incoming and outgoing flights, but with a lot less of the noise. It also allows me to be at home and watch the flight land, and then enjoy and icy cold Diet Coke or do a few small tasks before leaving to go pick the people up (allowing time for Immigration and Customs clearance formalities to be completed).

As I stood last night, I watched a flight from a well-known international airline taxi to the end of the runway (we only have one here) and turn around to prepare for takeoff. As he sat finishing his preparations, I noticed a second plane, this one having just broken through the cloud cover and descending quickly for landing. The outgoing flight was sitting at the end of the runway, all the while the incoming flight was still approaching.

At one point, I remember thinking “Oh, this is not going to be good.” Finally the outgoing flight began accelerating, but ever so slowly it looked like. The incoming flight was still descending. They were getting closer and closer, since the descending flight was moving much faster than the outgoing flight.

At their closest point, the incoming flight was coming in fast and was clearly over the end of the runway, while the outgoing flight was not yet halfway down the runway and gaining speed. I would guess they were within maybe 400 yards of each other at one point. The incoming flight either decided or was told to abort the landing, so he accelerated hard, and pulled up in a sharp climb to the left, passing directly over the airport building at a very low altitude. I am sure the people in the building were wondering what was going on at that point.

Eventually, the outgoing flight took off without incident, and the incoming flight circled around for another attempt at landing, which he did successfully. I am sure the passengers in the outgoing flight had no idea what happened. Thankfully the incoming flight was a cargo flight, so only the crew got the wits scared out of them.

As I reflected on the situation, I wondered not only how often that type of thing happens here, but also realized some thoughts has passed through my mind about my own convenience. My friends’ flight had not yet arrived, so if those two planes crashed, that would goober up the airport for days likely. What a pain. And what a hassle to figure out where they ended up landing, and how to get them to here from there. And would their schedule get messed up as a result. I was shocked at how easily my mind wandered to my own convenience and wants. It is not that I was not aware of the destruction and death and its impact on all those other people and their families, but I also quickly went to my own needs and feelings. Not sure how I feel about that.