My First Flight

I passed out of college towards the end of 1981. Got a job with Scindia Steam Navigation Co. Ltd – India’s first private shipping company and a company steeped in tradition. I was feeling very proud.

In December, I was informed that I will be flying to join a ship at Hamburg. The flight will be Bombay – Frankfurt and then Frankfurt – Hamburg. The ship I was to join was the ‘Walchand’ – a 1,04,000 tonner OBO – an Ore – Bulk – Oil carrier. A huge ship and one which was considered a ‘choice’ posting. I felt my chest expand further.

However, there was a bit of nagging apprehension – not about the ship, but about the flight. I had never been on a flight before! Unfortunately, nobody in my family had been on a flight and of course, there wasn’t google to help!

The ship’s ‘serang’ or bosun or crew boss was travelling with me. The first leg of the flight went well. We reached Frankfurt in the night and within a short time, the airport emptied out. In fact, most of the lights were switched off!

We had about 3 hours before the next flight. We could see the gate from where our next flight would depart. However, we had no idea how to reach there as the doors all around us were closed. We decided to wait. After a couple of hours, we started to tense up. There wasn’t anybody coming to open up the doors!

Just as I was really going to panic with less than hour for the flight to take off, I saw two passengers calmly walking towards the closed doors. Surprisingly, the doors opened up by themselves as soon as these gentlemen neared them! It may sound stupid now, but that was my first and rather traumatic experience with automatic doors.

Niranjan Bangera