First flight, delayed flight, eventual flight

I’m in Minneapolis until 9:15 tonight.

My flight from Madison — which I actually boarded — was delayed taking off but not badly. When we were approaching Minneapolis however, we started circling after they told us that we were ready for final descent.  Eventually they explained that they were having problems with the hydraulics and that they’d update us when they knew more.

It became clear that I would probably miss my connection which just amused me by this point.

The captain came on to let us know that they’d had to extend the right gizmo on the landing gear manually and that we’d have a normal landing but would need to be towed to the gate.

We landed a little harder than usual but not badly.  While they were hooking up the tow truck to us I noticed that there were fire trucks standing by. It’s the first time I’ve seen those up close in this context.

I missed my flight, but Delta had already rebooked me onto the next plane out, gave me a voucher AND upgraded me to first class. Really, I can’t be too angry especially since there was a distinct lack of death on the landing.

As an ironic bonus, Tor is offering my Locus-nominated novellette, First Flight, for the Kindle. Free!  It will auto-deliver on June 8th.

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