iPhone photo of SAS in-flight shopping catalog
despite the fact that i have, for years, now, thought known that i will die in a plane crash (a statement that makes people very, very nervous when you utter it calmly and matter-of-factly), i love to fly. i adore it. it gives me a rush and a high. sitting on the runway, catching a glimpse of the shadow of the plane, i feel a flutter of good excitement in my chest:
just thinking about how incredible it is that such a large hunk of metal can be airborne. the moment where it's our turn and the plane pivots into position at the end of the runway.
you can almost feel the whole plane taking a deep breath and getting ready for the rush of speed that will lift it off the ground. and then, the blissful rush of speed. and lift and the sight of the ground moving away beneath us. the feel and the sound of the landing gear tucking up into place in the belly of the plane (unless you're on one of those Dash 8-400s (note: never name a plane something that rhymes with crash) planes that SAS sold off to Philippine Airlines, the landing gear not so reliable on those, naughty design, you Bombadier people. however, i digress). the climb up to cruising altitude. i love it all.
i love seeing the ground recede. i love catching a glimpse of sunshine glistening on the wing. i love bursting through to the quiet, clear skies above the clouds (which almost always happens in leaving copenhagen, since it's ALWAYS cloudy).
i have more affection for taking off than for landing. i think it's because i'm always a little disappointed that we're landing already, especially on the short flight from oslo to copenhagen, which i will be taking more frequently again, since i'm starting a new job up there. with the same company as i worked for last year, but in a different position and this time as a "real" employee, rather than a consultant. and despite the GEC and CO2, i will be flying quite a lot, not only to work, since i live in a different country than my workplace, but also to all sorts of exciting destinations to interview people and gather stories. so i have lots of take-offs and landings to look forward to. and i think it only hit me yesterday, when i flew for the first time in nearly two months, how much i crave that take-off rush. i hope i never get tired of it.
maybe i was a bird in my last life.
