Flying into Salt Lake City (KSLC) on Labor Day was a throwback to days long gone by.
The pilots and FA both announced that there would be rough air as our regional jet descended for the approach into KSLC. Most of us tugged on our safety belts and continued with our newspapers. It did get rough; we put down our papers and paid attention.
I don't want to exaggerate this. The turbulence was never bad enough to cause one to fear death or even close to it. It did toss the airplane about a bit and—for the first time in years—I felt an uncomfortably harsh jerk by the seat belt.
The trip was memorable mostly because it was the most uncomfortable trip since I flew into Washington, DC, way back in the late 1960s—roughly 40 years ago. That trip was very bumpy from takeoff in Atlanta to the destination in Washington. Many people did fear for their lives. That was the worst trip I've ever taken in an airliner and the second worst including any type of aircraft. The worst was the day I blundered into a storm because the brand new radar was painting weather precisely backwards. I did fear death on that one.
The story here is that in these days of jet engines and radar we really don't run into much rough weather on airlines. That's a wonderful thing for us old-timers and even more important to less frequent flyers.
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