There are people of all sorts at the airport. At the airport, how many of them cry telling loved ones goodbye? How many are delighted to be reunited? How many miss their home as they travel down this road? How many are surprised to see their guest with their own two eyes? How many counts the hours until their feelings turn sour? How many fear the soar, listening to the engine roar? All this energy collects; where will it go next? The people fly all over the world, bringing with them this energy swirl.

Can you imagine being on the plane? A baby that screams on a plane, whether tired, unfed, or in pain must be calmed at all costs for when patience exhausts all the passengers, they will go insane. What about those passengers who want to mess the trip on the plane? I think I will take the baby passenger who screams as they are the innocent ones, and what they need is care and love.

During the last two weeks, two Air Canada flights had more turbulence inside the air craft than out. Travellers were having a bumpy ride, when a passenger aggressively used his headphones to attempt to strangle an Ottawa soccer player sitting in front of him. This incident left lots of questions in my head, as I think it was scary to me. What if the people started fighting, some passengers screaming and bumping, and the plane started shaking in the air? I have seen this in the movies, but I didn’t think this would happen in real.

Also across the Atlantic, an 87 year old woman sitting in first class caused such a disturbance on an Air Canada flight that the plane was forced to land in Ireland and the elderly woman was placed under arrest.

I can imagine only half an hour before the flight landed at Atlanta International Airport and this incident happened to this soccer player. Being in the middle of the sky, he must have been getting excited that he was almost reaching his destination. He didn’t know something would happen to him. Now I know the importance of praying and asking God to protect me on any trip I go, because I will never know what will happen.

I was happy when I read the newspaper to hear that a nearby passenger jumped in to try to restrain the attacker, when he reached over top of the seat and started strangling the soccer player with his headphones. The team said the incident caught passengers off guard. It would have caught me off guard too if I was there.

There was no provocation from any of the players or anyone else on the plane. It does appear that the passenger was suffering some type of mental instability according to the news.

I was happy to hear that the player was physically ‘fine’, but players and passengers were shocked that something like that took place. I think the team and other passengers hadn’t faced something like this before.

Meanwhile, the Air Canada flight from Frankfurt to Toronto was forced to land at Shannon Airport in Ireland after the woman passenger became disruptive on board. A crew member was allegedly assaulted mid-flight, and the 87-year old woman was arrested shortly after the flight landed.

Air Canada had some crazy flights recently. If I was in one of those flights, I would be scared or annoyed. Next time, if I travel on plane, I will be fully prepared for things like this may happen let alone delays which is very common with flights. Knowing that being up there and anything can happen is frightening. Who knows if there is a chance of landing somewhere? Who knows if there could be another situation and another passenger to calm down the situation? Hmm, what if it’s a pilot? I am glad that now most of the airlines are going to have two crew members in the cockpit of every flight. God help our trips.

How would you feel if you were on one of those flights? Have a great week.

Joanne K.