Here are my serious responses to “funny jokes” other passengers made about our delayed flight:
Joke 1: “looks like we’re gonna have to get out and hitchhike.”
Response: This is unlikely. Hitchhiking from the Phoenix airport to the Dallas / Ft. Worth area would be remarkably inefficient when considering travel-time, and the fact that 100+ passengers would have to compete with each other for the few opportunities in which a Phoenix-based commuter would permit 1 to three strangers to ride in their vehicle, and for a period of approximately twenty hours.
Joke 2: “it’s a good thing it broke down now, and not in the air.”
Response: Yes, this is extremely positive, as the hydraulic leak would have likely caused a catastrophic mechanical failure resulting in a high-altitude crash in which your and my bodies would be virtually indistinguishable from each other or from additional scorched remains and wreckage due to impact with the sandy yellow floor of northern New Mexico.
Joke 3: “Why do we need pilots?”
Response: Pilots allow for safe navigation of the 47-ton steel and fiberglass vehicle in which we are presently sitting. Without pilots, this vehicle would serve no purpose, save for possibly an abstract sense usually reserved for modern installation art. Were we to attempt to operate this vehicle, within moments we would likely find ourselves seconds away from a high-speed impact with the sandy yellow floor of northern New Mexico.
