Crazy Stories Heard In Trucking

On Christmas Eve, a truck owner related this story to me.

He flew from Ohio to Jacksonville, FL, by way of Charlotte (where he was laid over several hours because of plane repairs). He needed to update his Florida driver's license, so once he got there he drove an hour to stand in line five hours. Then he flew through Atlanta (more plane repairs, more delays) to get back only to have the plane skid off the runway in Ohio all they way until the from landing gear was mired in the mud of the field at the end of it. The rescuers had to actually build a ramp to the plane because they didn't have any method of getting the people off the plane mired in the muck. All the while the passengers had to stay seated and wait for the seatbelt light to go off.

Next time someone tells me a story of a bad flight, I think I'll trump it with that one. I think that even trumps the one I heard while working in Atlanta where the plane had the cabin fill with smoke just as it took off and at least one person was screaming at the top of his lungs with various methods of colorful expression to ask them to land the plane. I heard that from a manager who randomly showed up to work on a day we knew he was due in New Jersey.

I hope everyone out there traveling has a better experience than that poor truck owner. Merry Christmas!

-- Robert