A Royal Canadian Air Farce

Some years ago, when I worked at a 24-hour operation with different shifts, the 3-11 shift left at 11 when the overnighters came in.  Except for one night, when one of the 3-11 guys was so deeply asleep that he slumbered on through all the noise of the others coming and going, and did not wake up until after midnight, I was told.

Imagine sleeping past quitting time and waking up to a roomful of people snickering at your indolence.

OR, imagine waking up in a seat on airplane all alone, strapped in by your seatbelt, and no one else is around.  And it's cold!

A lady named Tiffani Adams flew from Quebec City to Toronto via Air Canada, and landed at Pearson Int'l Airport recently. A simple 90-minute flight.

Ms Adams deals with anxiety and insomnia, but she was out like a light on this flight, all alone in an entire row of seats (the flight was almost empty). She was in such deep sleep that she didn't even wake up while the plane landed, everyone else got off, and the plane was tucked away in a corner of the airport, far from the terminal.

Of course, as it happens in these stories, her cell was dead, and so she could not call for help, and the plane was totally dark.

In that Stygian (I love to use that word) blackness, she bumped and fumbled her way to the cockpit, and found a flashlight after rooting around awhile. With that, she was able to open the exit door, and, you know, in the movies, she would have jumped to safety.

This ain't no movie. She looked down and found no staircase, and a 40 - 50 foot drop (that's about 15 metres for you loyal Canadian readers!) to the ground below, a drop she wisely chose not to make.

Ms Adams kept flashing her flashlight outside the plane, and eventually a guy driving one of those baggage carts drove over to see what was up.

Air Canada gave her a ride home and have called her twice to apologize and they have opened an investigation into how the entire crew of a jetliner could miss a human being aboard the plane before they put it away for the night and headed for TGICanada.

Ms Adams is still recovering: "I have not got much sleep since the reoccurring night terrors and waking up anxious and afraid I'm alone locked up someplace dark," she says.

Air Canada says they remain in contact with her, and you can assume that lawyers on both sides of this case are hovering like fans outside a Neil Young concert (it is Canada, after all).