Flying the B757 is one of the most aggravating experiences. By the time we landed in Montego Bay, Jamaica we were exhausted. We have about a 20 minute sit and nowhere to go, so we open the airplane doors to absorb some Jamaican heat and hope it will give us just enough energy for the trip home. What we didn't realize was how TERRIFYING it is to shut the doors when we were all ready to go.
In the simulator you are able to step outside the door to gain leverage to close the door, on the live plane there is a million foot drop. Ya gotta lean WAY out to even just grab the handle to swing the door into a more manageable position, with only an ity bity handle inside the plane to keep you from falling. Of course I volunteer to close this mammoth death trap. When I realize how much I'm putting my life at risk, I ask my crew-mate to hold on to me. With her grabbing me by my vest I throw the majority of my body out the window just to grab the doors handle.
I'm grunting and groaning and swinging my whole body about in an attempt to just get the door to move the tiniest bit. I manage to get the door to budge but my weight is now behaving like a pendulum and just as soon as I pulled it a little bit in, I push it back out. This in itself sends a wave of panic through my gut and I shriek.
At this point the boarded passengers have been hearing me struggling for about 5 minutes and now im squealing.
I finally manage to swing the door about and close it with a huge "thud" and an enormous sigh of relief.
I wonder what the passengers where thinking about all this commotion and noise occurring behind them.
It was only after take off when the friend that was holding me from falling informed me that if I did actually fall she would have let go.
