I Did Not Break That Plane!!!!

For years I have joked that I've  seen my ship come in just over the horizon, only to see it sink before it got to port. So close, yet just out of reach. I have to tell you that skydiving proved to be no different. After much anticipation we arrive at the airport, ready and willing to get it done. We had a chance to see

some people land and after all of the waivers were signed, fees were paid and prayers were said we were up, up, and away.... But not far away. We took off in the little bitty plane, 6 of us packed in like sardines with yours truly right next to the door. As we begin to ascend and circle the airport, the plane made apparently a funny noise (I was busy giggling) and my instructor turned around and said..... "We're going down!" First of all, that is not the words you ever want to hear when you are in a plane, second of all it's never comforting when you see someone who does this every day, several times a day, cock their head and ask "What's that noise?" as the plane trembles and shakes. It's also not comforting to suddenly smell smoke as soon as you hear

the words "We're going down." Thirdly (and certainly just as important) he was the one with the parachute, not me and we hadn't been hooked up yet. Luckily his statement wasn't "We're going down" as in "We're going to crash", but rather, we're going to have to land, there is something wrong. That makes ALL the difference in the world. The first thing I thought was "Crap! They are going to think I chickened out when they see us land." The second thing I thought is.... "I am so going to get blamed for breaking this plane!" Hey, it's happened before. So they landed the broken plane and tell us to go to lunch and come back in 45 minutes to see if it had been fixed. We did.... They didn't, so after waiting around for a while we got a refund and headed back home (2.5 hr drive). We plan to reschedule sooner

rather than later, but still, the disappointment was huge. The good news is no paramedics were needed, just mechanics and my toes (and limbs) are still in good condition. I mentioned before that anything could happen and usually does where I'm concerned, but I'm not necessarily looking at that as a bad thing, just a normal thing