- Joined
- Aug 21, 2011
John Chamberlain had been busy all morning at his desk on the flight back from his meeting in London with the Civil Aviation Authority as he negotiated a larger allocation of space for his airline at Heathrow. Just as he was about to put pen to paper on the freshly negotiated contract, the Gulfstream g550 private jet lurched with a thud. An audible alarm sounded, and an oxygen mask dropped from the ceiling. Chamberlain was annoyed. The contract was spoiled and would have to be reprinted. He ignored the oxygen mask and paged his secretary to reprint the document. A couple minutes later he was interrupted by the copilot who insisted he put the oxygen mask on and buckle his seat belt as they had lost cabin pressure and were forced to make an emergency landing in Bloomington Indiana roughly an hour by air from Chicago.
At first the 38 year old CEO of Air Chamberlain ignored the young second officer who had arrived wearing a portable respirator until the handsome young chief executive nearly passed out and began to realize the seriousness of the situation. The fit and trim young man was used to getting exactly what he wanted, but when he found himself unable to focus from lack of oxygen. That got his attention. As the oxygen flowed from the mask the 6 ft sandy haired, blue eyed executive regained his awareness of the situation and immediately began assessing what resources he had at his disposal. Bringing up Bloomington Indiana on his laptop, he discovered that his airline had no resources there and that his best available option was to charter a 21 seat Beachcraft commuter jet that was holding there for a flight the next day. He called his secretary and had her make the arrangements with Lakeside Airlines who owned the plane. Ten minutes later, his secretary informed him that she had secured the plane for his use and that a Lakeside flight attendant, Naomi Bellacote, would meet him at the gate upon their arrival and see to his needs on the one hour flight to Chicago, O'hare field. Just at that moment the Pilot announced their imminent arrival and the flight attendant came to see that he was prepared for landing. John moved to his cruising chair and buckled his seat belt and quickly put on the oxygen mask provided. He was annoyed at the inconvenience, but grateful for his safety.
Upon landing he was shocked at how small and primitive the rural airfield was that they had landed at. He departed the plane and hurried across the tarmac to the tiny terminal in a driving rain. The umbrella he had been provided promptly turned inside out in the wind and he tossed it to the tarmac in disgust. A baggage handler held the door for him as he entered the terminal and glanced around the tiny building in search of Miss Bellacote. He was wet uncomfortable, and annoyed.
At first the 38 year old CEO of Air Chamberlain ignored the young second officer who had arrived wearing a portable respirator until the handsome young chief executive nearly passed out and began to realize the seriousness of the situation. The fit and trim young man was used to getting exactly what he wanted, but when he found himself unable to focus from lack of oxygen. That got his attention. As the oxygen flowed from the mask the 6 ft sandy haired, blue eyed executive regained his awareness of the situation and immediately began assessing what resources he had at his disposal. Bringing up Bloomington Indiana on his laptop, he discovered that his airline had no resources there and that his best available option was to charter a 21 seat Beachcraft commuter jet that was holding there for a flight the next day. He called his secretary and had her make the arrangements with Lakeside Airlines who owned the plane. Ten minutes later, his secretary informed him that she had secured the plane for his use and that a Lakeside flight attendant, Naomi Bellacote, would meet him at the gate upon their arrival and see to his needs on the one hour flight to Chicago, O'hare field. Just at that moment the Pilot announced their imminent arrival and the flight attendant came to see that he was prepared for landing. John moved to his cruising chair and buckled his seat belt and quickly put on the oxygen mask provided. He was annoyed at the inconvenience, but grateful for his safety.
Upon landing he was shocked at how small and primitive the rural airfield was that they had landed at. He departed the plane and hurried across the tarmac to the tiny terminal in a driving rain. The umbrella he had been provided promptly turned inside out in the wind and he tossed it to the tarmac in disgust. A baggage handler held the door for him as he entered the terminal and glanced around the tiny building in search of Miss Bellacote. He was wet uncomfortable, and annoyed.