Pohnpei

Continental Micronesia CS956 | KSA/KWA
Economy Class
N14249 | Boeing 737-800
ATD/1508 | ATA/1723

The Purser advised that they would perform a security check while in transit at KSA. Any transit passengers wishing to deplane had to take all their hand baggage, place it in a container at the bottom of the aircraft steps, and reclaim them before reboarding. All passengers staying on board had to account for their baggage, and any unaccounted baggage would be removed. I grabbed my bags, deposited them in the trolley, and walked into the terminal at KSA. Over the arrivals area was a sign saying “Welcome to the Mysterious Paradise Island, Home of the Sleeping Lady Mountain”. I hadn’t noticed this on the outbound.

Once inside the check-in hall, I made my way to the vendors and bought a bottle of chili lime sauce and two bags of tangerines. After that, I made my way back to the departure hall and before long boarding was called. At the aircraft, I reclaimed my bags and walked back into the cabin to find that the Mormons and the man occupying my seat had gone. I sat in my assigned seat and saw that the large man in 14F was still snoring away. At least now there would be a little more distance between him and I. Before the door closed, the flight attendants made announcements asking the owner of a piece of hand luggage to claim it before it gets confiscated.

Quite a few passengers disembarked at KSA, and the aircraft was a little more than 50% full. We taxied to the western end of the runway. This time, the pilots did not apply the brakes and rev the engines. Just as we were airborne, I peered out the window to see that we were already past the runway and over the reef. Tony was in 12A, and I must have frightened him a little about the runway at KSA, because he let out a low whistle.

As we were climbing, I took out one bag of tangerines and we finished it in no time. Because of Hawaii’s quarantine regulations, we had to finish all our fresh fruit before arriving there. Flying time to KWA was about one hour. Snack service began as we were still climbing, and this time the tray consisted of a bun with a leaf of lettuce and three thick slices of ham, a small pack of “chamorro chip” cookies from Guam, two pieces of saltine crackers and a wedge of laughing cow cheese. I asked for a orange juice as well. This sector was a little turbulent, and a baby a few rows behind me started crying loudly; this would continue well into the MAJ-HNL sector.

We descended into KWA through thick clouds and some turbulence. It was raining heavily, and I could see stormy ocean beneath us. Suddenly, the engines revved up and we started climbing again. It was obvious that the landing was being aborted. The Captain then came on to say that he had to go around because of the rain and low visibility. We made a two 180 degree turns, and the aircraft swayed a lot. I was expecting a very rough landing because of the swaying, but our touchdown on the very wet runway was surprisingly smooth. Looking at the windsock, I saw that we landed into an almost direct, if strong, headwind, so it wasn’t too hairy after all. The rain was quite heavy, and from the coconut palms we could see that wind was strong too. Amazingly, snoring man slept through all this. Despite the aborted landing, we still arrived on schedule.

Only five passengers disembarked at KWA, and while we were in transit the drinks cart was replenished. Transit passengers weren’t allowed to disembark as KWA is a military installation. In any case, nobody would have wanted to get off in the rain. My traveling companion and I ate the second bag of tangerines. One of the flight attendants – a woman named Patty - very cheerfully cleared out bag of tangerine peel.

Almost 40 passengers boarded, making the aircraft about 80% full. Boarding was a little slow because two young girls who boarded first were confused about their seats in BusinessFirst and no one could get beyond them. Meanwhile, the passengers waiting to get into the aircraft were getting wet outside. A flight attendant made an announcement requesting boarding passengers to allow others to pass by so that those still outside did not get more wet. Despite the heavier load, the seat between Tony and I remained unoccupied.Read more