Flight
Stories of Canadian Aviation, Vol. 3
- Publisher
- DriverWorks Ink
- Initial publish date
- Aug 2021
- Category
- General, Aviation & Nautical
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781927570623
- Publish Date
- Aug 2021
- List Price
- $19.95
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Where to buy it
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age: 13 to 18
- Grade: 8 to 12
Description
Precarious landings, mid-air optical illusions, hidden airstrips, annoying passengers, and long-distance flights for the birds are among the true stories in this engaging third volume of the Flight series. In their own words or with the help of author-publisher Deana J. Driver or other writers, Canadian aviation enthusiasts, pilots, and other aviation personnel share stories of tense flights, perilous routes, historic achievements, and impressive flying adventures in this salute to Canada’s aviation industry and its people.
About the authors
Contributor Notes
Flight, Vol. 3 includes six stories and introduction written by Deana J. Driver and 27 stories written by 14 other Canadian writers: Bill Cameron, Will Chabun, Richard Dowson, Peter Enzlberger, Mary Harelkin Bishop, Dave McElroy, Vincent Murphy-Dodds, Curtis Penner, Don Riekman, Ralph Tweten, Walter D. Williams, Ken Wilson, Mason Adam Wray, and Bill Wunsch.
Deana Driver is an award-winning journalist, author, editor, and book publisher. She was a freelance journalist for 30 years and is the founder and CEO of DriverWorks Ink, publishing inspiring non-fiction books about Prairie people as well as other genres connected to non-fiction. Deana Driver worked as a freelance journalist for more than 30 years, chronicling stories of Prairie people and events, with more than 2,300 articles published in Canadian magazines. Deana (pronounced dee-na) has written five non-fiction books and has contributed stories to a dozen other books, including Flight, Vol 3.
Excerpt: Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation, Vol. 3 (contributions by Deana Driver, Will Chabun, Bill Wunsch, William Cameron & Dave McElroy)
Lisa McGivery
The Most Annoying Passengers
by Deana J. Driver
While spending precious bonding time with her father at their cottage near CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick, Lisa McGivery watched water bombers swoop down to the lake and fill up with water. “I was 12 years old and I remember thinking that was one of the coolest things I’d ever seen in my life,” says Lisa, who went on to work in aviation because of that experience.
“My dad was an RCMP officer and after he retired, he became a flight attendant with WestJet. I went to university for accounting, but he encouraged me to be a flight attendant.” So she decided to give it a try. Lisa worked as a flight attendant for WestJet from 2012 to 2015 and has had many interesting experiences during her flight attendant duties. Some are more memorable than others.
Growing up in New Brunswick, Lisa had learned both English and French, so she was comfortable speaking in both languages while presenting the onboard safety demonstrations. “When briefing passengers about opening the windows, you have to say, ‘If you forget what I’ve said, look at the placard on the window and follow the instructions.’ In the first two years, I kept telling them in French to look at the ‘pla-card’. Nobody corrected me. Until one passenger asked, ‘Are you trying to say ‘placard’?’
“I answered, ‘Yes. Are you French?’ The passenger said, ‘That’s not the right word.’ It turns out that ‘placard’ in French means cupboard, not the instruction sheet that I was trying to bring to their attention. Really? None of my flight attendants ever noticed it. Nobody ever corrected it. You just have to shake your head,” she says with a smile.
There were several other memorable experiences with passengers who were not as polite or kind. “You meet a lot of characters when you’re a flight attendant,” Lisa says politely. Many of the more frustrating incidents occur when passengers have been drinking alcohol and start “doing crazy things,” causing flight attendants to wonder what is happening and when or how it will end. The job requires a patient and calm attitude toward guests. And sometimes it requires a little help from other staff members too.
On one flight, in the middle of service (walking through the plane and offering different beverages or snacks to passengers), Lisa was handing a cup of ginger ale to a passenger. “There was turbulence and the smallest, smallest drop went onto her pants. She stood up and went into an absolute fit,” recalls Lisa. “She insisted the pants were expensive silk and were ruined.”
Lisa wasn’t convinced. “It was ginger ale. It was going to wash out either way.” But Lisa could not tell her true feelings to the passenger. “We offered her a voucher for dry cleaning. She went to the front of the plane and tried to tell us they were $200 silk pants. The pilot actually took $200 out of his wallet and said, ‘Here you go. Go sit down.’ The woman didn’t know what to do. She did go back to her seat. She was a bit much.”
But this woman was a joy compared to one man who “was by far the worst passenger I’ve ever had in my life.”...
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