Takeoff

We boarded and got set for takeoff. After de-icing the wings the aircraft pulled away from the terminal right on schedule. We are flying on Harmony Airways aboard a Boeing 757. The captain advised that we would be cruising at an altitude of 34,000 feet and that we would arrive in Hawaii 30 minutes ahead of schedule.

The takeoff was very smooth and gentle and other than that slight feeling of dropping on takeoff, you could almost not tell we were airborn. Renee filmed the entire takeoff sequence and then a lot of the scenery and clouds.

The inflight movies have just started, they are featuring The Corpse Bride first and then following that up with The Legend of Zorro. Neither of us are interested in the first one, and we saw Zorro just over a week ago.

We got complimentary headsets and fleece blankets, and breakfast is just about to be served. The lady in front of me just reclined her seat, making it impossible to see the screen to type, so I will sign off for now.

Just before arriving in Honolulu, we could see a massive wake being created out in the ocean. It looked like a ship, but very unusual in shape and the bow wave it was kicking up. A closer look revealed it to be a nuclear submarine steaming towards Pearl Harbour. Pretty impressive!

The flight was wonderful all the way, a little bit bumpy on occasion. However, as we arrived in Hawaii and were on final approach, we had a touch of excitement. Renee likely has it on tape as she was filming as we came in. The plane descended to about 250 feet, when the aircraft was hit with a sudden wind shear. The aircraft skewed badly to the left side and dropped about 200 feet. The old heart was beating like crazy as I thought we were going to auger in. The pilot punched on the power and made a quick recovery and settled into a landing. Just as the wheels touched down, we got hit again with windshear and we were rolling down the runway, somewhat lopsided. Finally we were safely on the ground. Thank goodness, a safe arrival on the island paradise.