Love it or hate it, flying can be the best way to get you to your vacation destination. And even if you’re not the most relaxed flyer in the world, most people can find a way to make it more enjoyable. Whether it’s sitting back for an in-flight movie, reading a good book or magazine, or playing games with your seat mate, there are a lot of ways to make it, well, fly by. However, sometimes things just don’t go right, making flying anything but pleasant. Maybe it’s a baby that won’t stop crying, an annoying neighbor, and in much more serious situations – an actual emergency.
Tom McCay is one person who knows how to make the best of his time in the air. A retired United States Air Force colonel, Tom spent countless hours in the cockpit of airplanes, flying all over the world. So commercial flights were not high up on his list of concerns. He even reassured himself while flying that if something went wrong, he would know just what to do. But when something did go wrong, Tom found that he was the one who needed help. Tom and his wife Maggie were on a Southwest Airlines flight, on their way home after a cruise vacation, when Tom suddenly began to feel uneasy. And since an airplane is not the best place for something to go wrong, Maggie started to get worried. She called out for help, but the couple never could have anticipated the response.
[post_page_title]A short flight home[/post_page_title]
Retired Air Force Col. Tom McCay was flying home from a cruise with his wife Maggie on March 6, 2017. The couple was on the home stretch of their journey – an internal Southwest Airlines flight from Atlanta, Georgia to their home in Houston, Texas. It’s a short flight, just over one hour long, and dozens of airplanes make the journey each day. There was little chance of anything going wrong, and the McCays were settled in for the ride, feeling relaxed after their vacation. Everything was fine when the plane took off, according to Tom, and the first half of the flight went as usual. However, just when the plane reached the halfway mark of its journey, something unexpected happened.
