Surinder Koul
A vivid sensory experience with piercing winds and plummeting temperatures, encountered by a septuagenarian Kashmiri couple who were stuck for four hours in an aeroplane in DeoMonis, the US, while waiting to take off for a flight to Las Vegas, was a life-shaking experience for them.
The temperature dipped to -31 degrees centigrade due to a major snowstorm, followed by a cold wave which gripped the entire region of Denver and Des Moines. The scheduled boarding of the Allegiant Airlines was at 07 a.m. The flight’s scheduled time was deferred twice due to severe
Inclement weather conditions were the reason, as the previous sorties of the airlines had not returned. The Indian couple was dropped off at the airport and picked up for their residence twice by their niece, as their flight was repeatedly rescheduled, subject to the landing of the flight at the Des Moines airport. During their to-and-fro trips in the car between the residence and the airport terminal, they had an overarching view of unmarked snow layers deep down the horizon, similar to the Antarctic snow-clad field of immeasurable land mass, as published in National Geographic magazine. The dwelling houses and buildings in visible range were seen covered under the blanket of snow from the rooftops, and the piled-up snow rose to the ground floor. However, their constant shuttling between the airport and the residence was tiring for them. They had to be patient with the discomfort in the adverse climatic conditions to catch the available flight to reach their next travel stop. A little later, the airline staff messaged that the flight would take off at 5 P.M. on 21st December 2022. Their niece and her husband kept tracking the flight with the help of Google Airlines’ air route. They took responsibility for driving them to the airport on the day, as per the time-to-time intimation of flight timing. Already, the Meteorological Department had forecasted 5 p.m. of the snowstorm on 21st December. Around 5.30 p.m., Allegiant Airlines landed on the tarmac and anchored at its bay for the boarding of passengers, including the Kashmiri couple on the flight that was bound for Las Vegas. They had to catch the connecting Spirit Airlines flight on their landing in Las Vegas for their next flight to California. The fear of the snowstorm had haunted the passengers who were eager to get seated in the flight as quickly as possible, so that the flight could take off before the snowstorm that could impede the flight. The sky outside had a different story to tell; it was overcast with dark clouds. The visibility was hazy.
The airline’s staff at the boarding gate counter checked the boarding cards of each passenger and allowed them to stream into the aircraft to occupy their respective seats. Passengers were impatiently peeping through the glass panes, wondering whether the aeroplane would take off or not. Most of the passengers were using Google to study the intensity of the snowstorm and the weather conditions. The pensiveness on their faces was discernible. Apprehensions about the flight were vivid. Snow clearance machines were operating on the tarmac. The airport ground crew were pushing the fallen snow from the upper surface of the aeroplane. Everyone was guessing the plane would move outward to the runway to pick up speed for takeoff. Everyone was waiting for the taxing to start. But nothing of that sort happened, and the aircraft was immovable for four hours with passengers huddled up, fearful and jittery with sulking looks, rolling eyeballs around to understand what was to be followed. Every passenger was bewildered as they could not grasp why flying off the aircraft was out of the question. The visibility in the atmosphere had dimmed as nightfall spread. Under the flashing lights from the electric poles, the falling snowflakes were visible, which turned into a hallucinating situation for certain passengers who imagined the plane was running on the tarmac when it was not. They were taken over by the optical illusions triggered by assumptions made about the sense of vision.
The Kashmiri couple got physically cramped up in the compact aircraft for four hours, and the longing for takeoff was nerve-racking for both of them. Their seats, allotted by the airline office, were diagonally opposite. The lady passenger was in the front row, whereas her husband was in the rear seat. There was no communication between the two, either verbal or digital. The lady was trapped in a three-seat row with two senior American couples who spoke in their American accent, which was beyond her comprehension. Her husband was at the tail end of the plane in a row of three seats adjacent to an African American passenger and her child. Therefore, the possibility of exchanging the seats with either of the adjoining passengers was impossible. This type of seating for them on the plane rubbed salt into their wounds of desperation. In this confusion, the gentleman made inquiries to the flight hostess about the chances of the flight taking off and whether they would be able to board the connected flight from Las Vegas to California. The reply of the air hostess was disappointing that their connecting flight would be missed. On learning of their inability to catch the flight to California after landing in Las Vegas, he was upset. Shortly after, the senior air hostess announced the cancellation of the flight due to a rigorous snowstorm. The passengers were directed to collect a ticket refund at the counter on the ground floor or to check with the airline staff when their next flight was possible. The declaration of flight cancellation by a member of the airline crew was disturbing for both of them. They had to call their niece, who had been tracking the flight on her mobile. She was on the ground floor, waiting to pick up her Uncle and Aunt and drive them back to her residence in Des Moines for a further stay until air traffic resumed. On their drive back from the airport to their niece’s house, the harshness of the winter storm was conspicuously visualised by the instant freezing of the falling snowflakes on the windshield. The hard crust of frozen layers of fallen snowflakes on the windshield of a car was melted by pouring special tinned fluid over it. Then the car wipers were used to wipe off the windscreen. Otherwise, it was all obscure for the driver to see the road.
The next day, the Wall Street Journal, a US-based newspaper, featured a headline reporting that eight thousand five hundred aircraft were grounded due to a severe snowstorm affecting the Midwest, Northeast, East, and North Plains, as well as the Great Lakes regions. They were stunned by the severity of the situation that engulfed most of the US, leading to the suspension of all air services. The winter storm’s fury was like a tempest. People remained confined within the four walls of their houses, not daring to venture outside for fear of being hit by the winter blizzard. The Wall Street Journal carried a prominent headline warning that any part of a senior citizen’s body exposed to the extreme cold could suffer frostbite. The couple diligently read the weather forecast section of the Wall Street Journal to find out when the storm would subside.
Despite its highly advanced technology and scientific progress, their entire air transport system was shaken by the severe unpredictability of bad weather conditions. This disruption of air travel in a US state reflected the earlier days of the couple, when coach commuters on the National Highway from Jammu to Kashmir or vice versa were stranded for days in winter due to heavy snowfall, landslides, or boulders rolling down from loose rocks atop the mountain ridge. Compared to this, Jammu and Kashmir were less developed and lacked technological advances. Nonetheless, the administration and local people stranded on the highway were providing help to each stranded passenger and the bus drivers. The rolling boulders, with potential force from the upper slopes, struck the moving coaches on the highway. They dragged the vehicles down the gorge into the River Chenab, causing casualties and injuries among the passengers.
Finally, one may conclude that nature cannot be harnessed.
(The writer is a frequent traveller)
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