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The blessed computer on the SATA airplane! |
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The blessed computer on the SATA airplane! |
Photo when "São Miguel" airplane was stopped at Lisbon Airport because of an electrical failure.
After seven marvelous weeks of vacation in Continental Portugal , Madeira and Porto Santo and even the southern of Spain , on Sunday, June 26, my wife and I started our trip back to America . We left by car our village of Merlães , Vale de Cambra, about eleven in the morning, on our way to Lisbon . We stopped twice at the restaurants near the highway to eat and to rest, and we arrived calmly at Lisbon Airport at four PM, where there was our good friend Mr. Gonsalves of the Finibanco to takeover our automobile.
We entered the main airport and with our passports and our bags went to the check in counter of the SATA Azores Express to start our trip to Boston, U. S. A.
While we were on the line, our friend Dr. João Moniz
Corte Real with his adopted daughter gave us the opportunity to discuss some of
our common interest in the
history of the discovery of North America
by the famous navigators The Corte Reais.
In another half hour it
was time to move through the Portuguese
International Police and also the X ray check point and wait for the time to be
call to go to gate 21 and be embarked into the airplane. It was 6:45 PM when all
the passengers were transported by buses to the SATA plane which
was about one kilometer way in the airfield.
Before the plane took
off,
the hostess start explaining the rules of emergency, and Captain Ramalho welcomed everyone aboard
and informed us that because the weather over the Atlantic was good we should arrived in Boston 20 minutes
before schedule.
The plane started moving slowly in preparation for take off, but after traveling about 300 feet, it stopped suddenly. We felt a strong smell of gasoline. The Captain came on again to inform all the passengers that an electrical failure had been noticed in one of the motors, professional help was called, and the matter should be correct in about ten minutes. These ten minutes turned out to be SEVENTEEN HOURS!
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The SATA flight 211
for 7PM was |
This is an example of the meal given to the passengers. Note the transfer card next to the tray. |
Captain Ramalho once again
informed the passengers that he did not have good news for us, and
we had to leave the plane, go to the
airport and be served dinner. We were transported
one more
time by bus and were
directed to the IBER restaurant. This restaurant
was not prepared to give dinner to so many people, so only by 9PM
started serving the crowd with 3 codfish cakes, white rice, mixed salad,
a piece of bread, fruit and one beverage. I
did not get in the line. I ate only an orange and felt sufficient.
About 10:30 PM we were again directed
to go to gate 21, but we did not enter this space. Around 11:50PM we were
told by the hostesses that supervised the passengers,
that we were going to be taken by buses to a hotel in the center of
Lisbon, to spend the rest of the night, and be back at the airport in the
morning to depart to Boston by
9:30AM.
So we left the airport to take different
buses! By this time our two
handbags seemed much heavier than during the day…
It was after 2AM in the morning when we got into bed,
with the warning alert that at 5:45
AM we were going to be awaken, to
have breakfast and return to the airport.
So it happened. Once in the
airport we had to show again our passports, pass the Portuguese International Police and go though
a severe X ray checking and enter our
familiar waiting room No. 21. The
plane was marked to depart at 9:30 Am, but only at 11:50 AM were we transported
by buses to “
São Miguel
” SATA airplane.
Captain Ramalho apologized to all the passengers for the long delay of seventeen hours and informed us that the weather continued to be good over the Atlantic so we should arrive in Boston , 20 minutes ahead of time scheduled.
During the crossing, so the passengers could relax,
the hostesses kept an open bar.
During the period that we were in Lisbon waiting to depart some passengers complained to the hostesses and of the Captain, but it was obvious that neither were to blamed for the situation. My wife and I we did not uttered a single word of criticism. Just the opposite. We have to praise the responsible professionals of the SATA company, and blessed the computer that detected the electrical failure in one of the motors, just a few seconds before taking off!
If this trip was a historical
for each one of us, we should remember, that happily all of us, we
are alive, that we all arrived at our destination, sound and safe, and
even 20 minutes before schedule as the Captain told us!
It were seventeen hours of
long waiting, but we should not consider them lost time, but
instead valuable opportunity for us
to meditate and appreciate the value of our lives, and also be
thankful to those professionals that
maintain the marvel of the jet age working so efficiently
for the betterment of mankind!
As for SATA (Sociedade Açoriana de Transportes Aéreos) we will continue to fly them with the renewed assurance in the future.
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Leaving
the cost of Portugal on a |
The very moment we landed safely at the Logan Airport, in Boston, U. S. A. |