American Airlines flight 152 was scheduled to leave LAX at 9:55pm on Monday 16 Feb and arrive 6am in Newark the next morning. This would give me plenty of time to go home by cab with my son David, shower, have breakfast, and get to school before 9. Even if the flight was 2 hours late, I could give up the shower and breakfast and still make class on time. But the fates intervened.
Boarding was orderly and we did in fact push back at exactly 9:55. The lights were dimmed and David and I started to doze off. I remember hearing that we were number 1 for departure and was waiting in a half-awake state to feel the acceleration. It seemed that the engine would get louder, but not loud enough, and then get quiet again. After some time, the pilot announced in her professional voice that there was a problem and they were going to a far end of the runway an try to "gun the engines" to see if that would help. It didn't. The maintenance crew was called to see what could be done.
At this point David and I fell asleep but were awakened by the announcement that we would be driven back to the gate and the plane would be taken out of service. This accomplished we were de-planed (which I guess means our smooth surface was made rough) and milled around the gate. We were sent to a new gate and told to board a new plane for Redeye II.
Boarding II was very fast. I guess we all wanted to get to Newark. But at the end a passenger standing in first class had a lengthy animated argument with a flight attendant. Finally, this was settled; at least the passenger got off the plane and the door was closed. The pilot announced that we were just waiting for the crew to push us back. I guess this crew was on break or something since the delay was significant. By this point, my shower and breakfast were gone.
Now we started dozing, but I do remember feeling the acceleration and thinking that barring further delays I would (just) make class. I knew this meant no printed handouts, but that didn't seem too bad. I was not sure if I would have enough time to upload the class notes to the web, but knew I could present the class using the blackboard. All seem almost well and we went to sleep.
When we awoke, I found out that our flight time had increased by 15 minutes and I was considering being dropped off at the train rather than going home. While, thinking about this and calculating the times more carefully, our pilot's voice again filled the cabinet. Due to our other delays we managed to get to the Newark area just in time for them to begin issuing "holding clearances", i.e. we were to circle the area a few times. That did it; I could not make class and had to cancel.
I am sorry.
allan gottlieb