An aborted take off and the aftermath

The world’s best airline. The second best airport in the world. What happens when the proverbial shit hits the fan?

6:00pm

“Flight crew to your stations please.”

The reassuring voice of the captain from the flight deck came over the PA system. The aircraft taxied to the head of the runway, turned around and came to a halt for those few moments before the take off. The engines gathered speed as the aircraft started thundering down the runway, all set to take off from Incheon, South Korea on its long hop to San Francisco late in the evening on the 5^th of May.

From my 44C aisle seat, I peeled my eyes from the LCD screen and looked out the window. I could see little more than the wing and the slats in the dim light. No number of years of flying can make me feel insouciant at the time of takeoff. Truth is, I’m still awed by flying, planes and everything connected to aviation. And from my seat, watching or visualizing the plane actually lifting off, the wheels folding, imagining the pilots manning the big bird through the clouds is now a habit. Oh and a prayer or two also, I must add. Perhaps my own way of being part of, in my opinion, what is a magical phenomenon.

I reckon we were maybe eight seconds, or ten at the most, from lift off when instead of accelerating the plane actually started braking. Momentum, braking efficiency, friction – all those concepts float by when a nearly full Boeing 777, about to lift off, is brought to an abrupt halt. That rare time when you appreciate why the seat belts are put in and thankful that you are wearing one. As the plane came to a shuddering halt, quizzical looks were exchanged till the pilot came back on and to say that he had aborted the takeoff on the orders of the control tower. You could be flying the greatest planes to the most exotic locations but the guy in the tower calls the shots.

We must have been sitting for about fifteen minutes at, what I’m pretty sure was, the very end of the runway when the pilot came back on again and shared further news. First about a plane straying on to our runway (gulp!) and then about flat tires and a brake system that is hot, dashing my hopes of a short delay. This could be longer. Many Indian parents (SQ16, May, California Spring…) had meantime started floating multiple theories, one more interesting than the other. Buses showed up about 30 minutes later and ferried us back to the terminal with our hand baggage and I could actually see the flat tires through the window. But this is the world’s best airline having issues at the world’s second best airport and I reckoned we could be airborne later that night.

7:30 pm “Let them have cake!”

The ground staff led us to the waiting area in front of the Krisflyer lounge. I identified two colleagues who were on the same flight – frequent flyers – and hence could shadow them into the lounge. The colleagues managed to take in 3 elderly folks to the lounge. As a fan of test cricket, you are familiar with the torture of rain delays in a tantalizingly poised game: a break in the rains – mopping – pitch inspection – new start time – more rains. The airline equivalent of this started playing out. The first announced 2-hour delay quickly became three after some checks and then four by which time it was rather clear that the chances of flying out that night were slim. No complaints there: ensuring flight worthiness of the aircraft and hence passenger safety is paramount. I’ll wait till you are satisfied. But I’m sure glad that I had access to the packed-to-the-gills lounge and hence some reasonably good finger food. The economy class folks in the waiting area outside, in the meantime, had been given a rough deal in what was the first of many goof-ups that night. Meal vouchers, I learned, were handed out but the restaurants had all closed down by that time, rendering them useless. Later some cake was then distributed to the folks. “Let them have cake!”

11:30pm “The wheels on the bus go round and round…”

It was finally announced that a special flight would be made available the following day at 1300hrs – a delay of nearly 20 hours - and that we would be provided accommodation for the night. Accommodation as in an hour-away-by-bus-back-into-Seoul and not something close by. The first class and business class travelers were whisked away separately. Again, no complaints: this is how the world works from temples to airports and everywhere in between. All of were asked to head to the immigration counter for canceling the departure stamp to allow re-entry or get a temporary visa issued as appropriate. In what was a masterstroke in customer service, when the elderly started looking for baggage trolleys, the Incheon airport officials informed us, rather callously, that no trolleys would be available as it was late night. Yes, the world’s second best airport couldn’t let the elderly and the infirm use baggage trolleys. We took turns helping out those who needed help with either walking or heavy bags.

A quick side note. Most Indian Americans, by default, seem to ask for wheel chair service for their traveling parents. Some of them genuinely need it; case in point the 88-year-old couple that was in the plane. But many others, don’t get me wrong, seem to be playing it extremely safe. A few fifty year-olds had been enrolled for the wheel chair service: I helped them with some paperwork and hence I know their age. Granted that I don’t know their medical condition to make a judgment on whether they really needed one. But as they say, it is a small world. I ran into some of them a few days after in the Bay Area, walking around just fine! My point? Walking during the layover and/or arrival would actually be better for them instead of more sitting from a health stand point. Again, this is not for everyone but something to think about.

Immigration was long and cumbersome given the lack of enough officials at that hour. More so for a few that required help with questions. The ground staff wasn’t around to help out here and we pitched in to help out to the extent possible.

2:00am

Buses took us to the Hilton at the foot of the Namsan Hill in Seoul. Check-in was not too bad but we were informed that dinner was not part of the accommodation plan. And needless to mention, food on the late night menu was steeply priced. We again helped out people with their bags and kids. Most of them required help with the card key entry, the lights, the faucets and figuring out window screens. By the time we could go to our rooms, it was past 3am.

10:00am

It was a grey, murky, wet morning and breakfast was a solemn affair. Everyone had one thing foremost on their minds: Can we get back to the airport and be on our way please? We were bussed back to Incheon and check in to the special flight was quick.We raised the lack of support at many stages since the aborted take off with the ground staff and requested this: that the really elderly be upgraded either to the business class or at least the premium economy section. No and no. After much haggling, they upgraded the 88-year-old couple to premium eco. I wish they were a lot more reasonable under the circumstances.

May be I sounded whiny. It is not my intention to be so and I consider myself as having been nothing short of extremely lucky. But what was truly appalling was the lack of adequate support and efficiency that should have been made available, particularly to those that needed it the most. Looking back at the incidents of that night, here are my takeaways in no particular order.

We were an extremely lucky group in that a plane straying on to the runway could have been much more, umm…serious? I don’t think I will know whose fault it was but full marks to the air traffic controller and to the pilot for making sure that a canceled flight was the worst thing that happened that night.

One would expect that things would be handled smoothly given that it is Singapore Airlines having an issue at Incheon. But the lack of coordination, bad communication/updates at every step of the way was stunningly bad! I could hear many people murmur that United Airlines (yes, United!) would have done a better job in that same situation.

If you need great service onboard, a fantastic entertainment system or finely customized meals to suit every palate, one needn’t look further than Singapore Airlines. But when things weren’t going according to plan, we got to take a look at their underside. Verdict: not very pleasant. Was it lack of experience or training for such a situation that led them to trip up the way they did? Whatever be the reason behind it, I hope they learned a thing or two from the incident.

Once again, full marks to the ATC and the pilot! Being around and healthy to post this is a better outcome than the other possibilities, the annoyances notwithstanding. 

Perspective

We first saw him in the near-empty dining hall by the table with the prasadam offerings on it. A nondescript, middle aged man standing by himself and consuming sesame seed rice and sundal with a plastic spoon. We had just finished praying at the temple and had entered the dining hall in the rear together with the last few devotees looking for prasadam. A visit to the Indian temple is incomplete without food of some sort in the equation. He was dressed in a dark blue polo and jeans, was bespectacled, wore vhibuti on the forehead and was holding a blue tote. There was enough about him to suggest that he was a parent, visiting his offspring in the US. After all, this is April and the beginning of the visiting-parents season that typically runs through late fall. A nod and a smile I offered him as I joined the food line. 

It was a week night and the crowd was, not surprisingly, thin. And the place was rather quiet until my son, as usual, decided to add some decibels. The payasam was particularly tasty and was naturally down to the last glass by the time we got around to serving ourselves. He turned around to my wife and announced loudly that the payasam (that he had tasted earlier) was really good and he wanted some more. Redfaced, we ushered him to a side and started filling his mouth with sesame seed rice and a side of sundal.  Desi parenting 101: food by the spoonsful quells embarrassing questions.

Too little, too late. His announcement had caught the attention of the faithful few gathered there and particularly the gentleman in blue. He walked over and asked my son whether he liked the payasam. Of course he did. Name, age, school – he hit the usual small talk topics by which time we joined the two of them out of courtesy and also ready to steer the conversation away from further embarrassment if needed.

Casual conversation then shifted to us. Between spoonsful of sesame seed rice, we learned that he was visiting the US, was from Hyderabad (although he spoke decent Tamil) and was visiting his daughter.

 

“Last time I was here, my daughter was here. This time around, she is not.”

Not quite sure what he meant, my wife sought clarification, which is when it hit us like a thunderbolt. He explained that his daughter - his only child, working for a tech giant near Sacramento, had died suddenly and that was the 13^th day since her passing when tradition asks for the grieving family to visit a temple. “It happened suddenly” is about what he offered as cause and of course, we didn’t push him. As a parent, this news grabbed me by the neck and shook me up hard. I had lost two of my friends while I was in college and I remember the effect it had on their parents. Terrible. 

Presently he was joined by two ladies with bloodshot eyes. They were, we learned, his wife and her relative living nearby with whom they were staying. My wife, in tears, hugged the mother and offered her condolences. I shared my phone number with the father and offered any help they may need including a ride if they needed to go someplace. I am not sure if I could have done anything else at that moment. 

Grieving can be therapeutic and it was evident that they couldn't have grieved adequately given the suddenness of the situation, finding themselves in a familiar yet foreign land, staying at a distant relative's place, being surrounded by not so familiar faces and faced with the unpleasant task of having to tie up the loose ends. A long road lies ahead for the lonely, ageing parents. He pointed towards the shrine and observed that he wasn't sure of God's plans in a resigned tone. 

We don’t go to the temple armed with a wish list – like I used to not too long back – but that night it was as if we were shaken awake from a nap. Although the lesson fades away with time, it is humbling to realize that there is so much happening around me even as I type this. Behind every closed door is unfolding a scene with the actors forced to don a role they may or may not like or be good at. There is happiness, there is sorrow. There is joy and there is grief. All thrown into the mix in no seeming order. Counting the everyday blessings - big and small - and being thankful can't be a bad thing at all. 

Sometimes in life, you only need perspective and nothing much else. And that night, in that empty dining hall, life gave us a king-sized portion of it with a side of sesame seed rice and sundal to go with it.