The day I was willing to be in a plane crash

The laughter coming from the cockpit was laced alarmingly with frustration. I could see the opposite propeller turning slowly in the shiny reflection of the airplane outside my little window. Turning slowly is not what you want to see from a propeller. Disgruntled grumbles just loud enough to bridge the 'I actually meant for everyone to hear that' gap were coming from the ten other passengers on the flight. "This plane was JUST flying fine, what the **!##! Happened?"

My mind clicked into worst case scenario mode. I evaluated the abilities of the people seated in the exit rows. Maybe I should have taken one of those seats. I trust myself to be strong and confident enough to save everyone. But what if I panicked and died in a plane crash with blood on my hands? Yeah, that would be worse.

Thankfully, the pilots were noticing the malfunction as the plane was still safely on the ground at the Valdez airport. The people who make decisions were deciding if it could be fixed or not. And I was deciding if I should get off a plane I thought might crash.

... If I think the plane is going to crash... Why don't I just get off it? Nah, wouldn't it be interesting to be in a plane crash? No, you would be too scared to be interested. No I wouldn't, I already predicted it so I wouldn't be that scared. I guess if it's going down, I'm along for the ride.

This is when I realize that I might be one of the people who defies economic theories that assume people are rational beings. 

Since I had committed to the plane crash scenario, I was quite relieved when the decision was made for me. They were flying mechanics in from anchorage to fix the plane, and we would fly back on the functional plane they came in on. We filed off the plane, and a girl gave each  person a piece of laminated red paper to serve as a re-boarding pass. 

No TSA. I brought a half full water bottle into the airport and onto the plane on my carry on. The two airport staff present didn't know or care, but I still felt like a rebel.

Most of the other passengers were men who smelled like boat and fuel and looked like they needed a good laundry day.  Some headed to the man camp across the street to do heaven knows what while we wait. The few of us left in the airport settled down to wait a few hours. I became wrapped up in listening to some of the women's conference that I missed, so when I took my headphones off I was startled by six smelly men all around me... Snoring LOUDLY. I was the only one awake in the airport. It was a very weird mix of 'We are all in this together' and 'I am totally alone.'

My phone was low on batteries so I went hunting for an outlet like people at airports do. The only one I could find was behind the counter of a little shop that was now closed. I looked around to see if I was going to get in trouble... Nope.  I plugged in my phone and sat down behind the counter to write this because it. was. so. quintessential.


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