Realigning your flight path

Something different today. A little story…

So I was on assignment filming for an AID organisation. We had to take a tiny tiny plane from one island to the next – one of those planes that seats a maximum of five people.

I sat in the front with the pilot. In front of me were a set of controls just like the pilots ones… guess you can have two pilots. But today there was only one – and me.

Behind me sat two women who work with the aid organisation. They do this flight all the time. Behind them was another woman who was very nervous about flying. We all were getting settled and the pilot double-checked our buckles. Making mine extra tight… 😉

The pilot sat down next to me in his seat and started flicking some switches. He looked up and noticed ahead on the tiny airstrip a car driving around. He seemed annoyed and got out of the plane, muttering.

I was excited about the impending flight. The girls in the back chatted with the lady in the very back, about how nervous she was. She said she regularly flew in small planes, but they are too light for her liking and get tossed around in the slightest breeze.

The airstrip was small and only one other plane was on it – far up ahead. It was a remote island and there was no controller or buildings of any kind, anywhere. The runway was sealed and there was a square parking area nearby. Surrounding the entire area was a HUGE drainage ditch. I guessed this was to encourage water to run off the airstrip.

So there we were, sitting and chatting, waiting for our pilot to reappear.

All of a sudden the airplane began rolling backwards. I started to freak out a little as I felt it moving – slowly at first, then gaining some speed. I turned around to the girls in the back, hoping to see a reassuring ‘this is quite normal’ look. Instead, looking alarmed, they demanded ‘PUSH SOMETHING!!’

I looked back at the banks of buttons in front of me… gizmos and gadgets everywhere… I couldn’t figure out what anything was… Where’s the handbrake?! I had no idea what to do… I started to panic. The ladies stuck behind me in the back repeated “DDDOOOOO SOMETHING! The drainage ditch was right behind us and I was pretty sure we could fall right in.

I unbuckled my belt and unlocked the latch to my door… I pushed it open. I leaned out of the door and at the top of my lungs started yelling for dear life…

“Help! help!!!!!!!!!!! WE ARE MOVINGG!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!! Please somebody!!!!”

I am panicked – the ditch was getting dangerously close… I screamed hard.

Just then, the pilot stepped into view from the front of the plane. He smiled, saying calmly… ‘Hailey, it’s me. I am pushing the plane…”

He laughed so hard. The ladies in the back seats laughed too… ‘You were so scared!’ they said! 😉

“Where did you think the plane would go without a pilot?! bahahha” he laughed as he came around, buckling me back in and locking the door.

“Please don’t yank it open again” he added.

I was thinking about this story this week – thinking about how I often feel like life isn’t taking me in the direction I was hoping or expecting. Sometimes I’m sure I’m going backwards. Why doesn’t everything fall into line in just the way I want it to? At the time I want it to?

At times like this it’s helpful to imagine the Universe, pokes his/her head around the front of our life’s plane and calmly says, “Hailey, don’t worry, it’s just me getting you into a better position to take off”.

Wishing you clear skies and excellent visibility this week, Hailey x