Sigh.

Did you see my post from last week about some travel adventures? More like my travel challenges?

If not, you may want to read it first as it will give some context for this one (but don’t feel you have to as this post will stand alone): https://leadingforchange.ca/no-problem-is-bigger-than-me/

It’s Friday afternoon as I write this. If things went to plan, I would be in Calgary, Alberta, with my wife, Rosie, and my son, Scott.

And yet, I’m back in my basement at home writing this post.

So, what happened?

Well, check out this picture:

That’s the airplane we were supposed to board and fly to Calgary on.

It was inbound into our local airport, and it overran the runway for whatever reason.

Look closer at the picture. You’ll notice a fire truck behind it. The fire truck is barely off the pavement behind it.

That pavement is the runway the plane landed on.

Now, I want to be clear that I am not judging anyone or anything about this incident.

I have, for example, already noticed plenty of social media posts full of sarcasm and judgment about this incident. “Oh, the airlines this …” or “the pilots that.”

Yet, I’m almost positive very few of us are qualified to understand what it means to fly and land a 737. (I know I’m not.)

In my last post, I focused on the airline’s customer service, which I am qualified to discuss. Even more so, I’m qualified to talk about my experience.

In this case, though, I am far from qualified to speak with authority about an airplane overrunning the runway.

I know that there are many reasons why it could happen. Sure, there are easy reasons, like pilot error or airline practices.

But, then, there’s a long list of other reasons, like weather, runway slickness, mechanical problems with the parts of the aircraft that slow them down, and so much more.

After sitting at the airport for a couple of hours without knowing what was happening, they announced that the flight was cancelled.

They also told us the runway was shut down. (The reason was obvious as soon as we stepped outside from the terminal)

So, Scott, Rosie, and I calmly looked at each other and said, “I guess we’re going home.”

And, with that, we gathered our stuff and left.

Now, what lessons could I take from this experience?

Don’t sweat the stuff you cannot change — we could have gotten upset and even complained to the gate agents (lots of people were doing this.) Yet, no amount of complaining or being upset would change the fact that our airplane was in a field.

Things could always be worse — everyone walked away unharmed from the incident, and I’m sure the airplane will be back in service before long.

Yes, it’s great to be travelling again.

I guess. (LOL)

You’ve got this.