Starting My BirthWeek with Fear

C’est lundi. I’d been waiting for the boarding announcement for several decades. Some of the passengers had boarded their plane already. while others went away because their flight to Cagayan de Oro, Butuan and Surigao got cancelled. I noticed how dark the heaven was and the weather looked terrible indeed.

I was with my dad and my sister at the airport. They flew to Manila today. I was scheduled to depart an hour after their boarding time or so I thought. As I waited for the 10.10am boarding time, a lot of passengers swarmed the gate counter. I heard some raised voices. I heard some buzz and some angry notes. These people just wanted to go home.

They were anxious to return to their families yet their flight got cancelled. Anxiety was thus prolonged. The skies remained bleak. Their hope of flying went dimmer than bleak. Hope had escaped them. The heaven would not allow itself to clear up even for a bit.

I would be flying to Ozamiz today. It’s one of my scheduled trips for January and I needed to be there to accomplish Merck’s side of the transaction. I forgave Cebu Pacific this time. The bad weather hampered the air traffic operations. As reported in the news, there had been a lot of delays because of poor runway visibility brought about by the poor weather condition.

At almost 11 am, passengers bound for Ozamiz exited Gate 8 and were brought to the ATR 72 500 aircraft that was parked at the side bay.  I was given the aisle seat of the last row. It’s the nearest seat to the only door of the twin prop plane. The cabin crew counted the passengers on board. The count was 34.

I overheard from the flight attendants that they were waiting for instructions either to let passengers stay inside the plane or let them get off the aircraft and return to the terminal building and wait for further announcement. The flight captain was still waiting for status from the air traffic control and from the weather bureau. The flight crew members were lingering at the rear door, as they talked about the poor weather conditions in Bacolod and in Cagayan.

30 minutes had gone by and we were still inside the plane. People became worried. The captain was explaining through the intercom that they were waiting for clearance to take off. We were told to sit back, relax and wait. I looked through the window and watched the dark clouds swept by the speed of the wind.

I wanted to get off and go home. I got scared of flying in such a terrible weather. I was also worried if the small aircraft could really brave the storm and bring us safely to Ozamiz. I was worried, probably because I’ve seen a lot of episodes from National Geographic’s Plane Crash Investigations and I would never wish for something like that to happen.

The captain instructed the cabin crew to close the door and get ready for departure. The propellers started to gather speed. I on the other hand started to gather fear. Taxiing to the runway, I kept hoping that somehow the weather in Misamis Occidental would be better. I kept on hoping until the aircraft got off the ground and pierced through the gloomy heavens of gray clouds.

The flight was smooth for the first few minutes. In fear, I dozed off the sleep. I was just stirred a few minutes after when the aircraft pilot announced that touch down would happen in a jiffy. Of course we did not land so soon. Almost half an hour, the pilot could not locate the airstrip. We were hovering above the province of Misamis. The plane went in circles for more the 10 times but still the visibility was really terrible.

I look down from a window and I could not see the land from there. It was completely covered with rain clouds. Even the high mountains of Misamis were obscured from view. I was about to throw up when the plane made another loop. It would tilt so steep as it leaned down in its attempt to break through the clouds and down to the landing strip. But the skies were so cruel and unforgiving. Each attempt to land was like a throwing a dart to the target, where bull’s eye was the strip. The clouds would always keep the target out of the pilot’s sight.

Thank god for small mercies. The ATR 72 was able to catch a break from the carpet of clouds and dove to a visible path. It touched down the Ozamiz airstrip under a blanket of rain. My fear had gone down the moment I stepped out of the plane. I looked around and got worried about the weather again. I feared that it would be the mood for the rest of the week.