The first photo was taken early on Friday morning in St Louis. I was really sick that morning, but several good naps took care of that.
The next three photos were taken in the Pittsburgh airport. It's a nice airport. There is plenty to do if you have to spend many hours there. I even got to hang out with football players and old guys.
The last photo was taken after we landed emergency-style. The runways were lined with fire trucks. Not a good photo, but it is all we have.





This is what happened:
We were late getting on our airplane in Pittsburgh because the lady at the bookstore was lonely and wanting to tell me all about the book I bought (My Life in France by Julia Child). It was annoying. We were two of the last to get on.
We were flying US Airways in an Embraer 145, a small jet with three seats across, one flight attendant, and a very smelly bathroom. We were returning to St Louis after attending a delightful family wedding with our delightful family. (We left our children at home because they are not so delightful right now.)
We took off and ascended to about 15,000 feet. There was a very thick layer of clouds and at the same time that we came through them to clear sky, there was an odd noise. It wasn't a scary noise, and the flight was smooth...but we both heard a distinctive noise.
Soon after that, the pilot did a sharp U-turn. Seb and I both knew that something was amiss, that we were turning off course. After the U-turn, the flight attendant came over the PA to say that we were returning to Pittsburgh for an emergency landing, that we would be on the ground in five minutes, that we would have to assume the position and stay in it until we were told otherwise. She went over the position and the exits and reminded us to stow our stuff properly.
By then we could tell that there was a problem with the cabin pressure. I felt the physical effects of a lack of oxygen. We were also descending very rapidly, which I could feel in my ears and sinuses. The oxygen bags did not fall down from overhead.
While we were going down, Seb had a very good view of the flight attendant and she was freaking out. She didn't handle her job of relaying information well. We found out the next day that she was sure that she was going to die.
I stowed my bag, tightly closed up so that nothing would fall out when we crashed, and put on my jacket to protect my arms from flames. And I tightened my seat belt. Then Seb and I had an argument about taking photos. I wanted him to take a photo of everyone behind us in the emergency position, but he refused. It would have made a good blog photo.
It was a pointless argument, because when we landed we didn't assume the position. The flight attendant either forgot to tell us to or the order had been changed. She never explained. I don't think that she wants to be a flight attendant anymore.
When we landed, the runways were cleared of other planes and all the firetrucks were out. One escorted us to a gate after we made a perfectly normal landing.
I wasn't scared at all. Not one bit. The airplane felt normal and I was sitting next to a pilot who didn't appear to be scared at all. It is possible that he was hiding his fear to appear strong and brave, but I don't think so. There was also an extra pilot on the plane, in the rear, who never left his seat. That was reassuring.
After we disembarked, someone made the comment that all the passengers held it together really well. That was true. The young man across from us was scared, but Seb reassured him. All of us were calmer than the flight attendant. One man even read his paperback on the whole descent.
I was nervous the next evening when we finally flew home, on the same airline. It was a different airplane though.
My advice after going through this: Know the emergency procedures, just in case, and don't let someone else's freak-out affect you.