Pilot's 'eerie' note found 435 days after plane grounded by Covid
A pilot has come across a chilling note left behind on a plane as flights were grounded at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic more than 12 months ago.
Delta Air Lines pilot Chris Dennis wrote on Facebook on March 24, 2020, it was a day he would remember for the rest of his life.
Mr Dennis parked a passenger plane at Victorville, in the US state of California, for storage as the pandemic grounded flights and sent many cities into lockdown.
“I had no idea what I would see or the emotions I would feel,” he wrote.
“Chilling, apocalyptic, surreal. All words that still don’t fit what is happening in the world. Each one of these aircraft represents hundreds of jobs, if not more.
Mr Dennis added it felt “even more real” than when flights were grounded by the September 11 attack.
“Now, they are all concentrated in huge lots and mothballed waiting for this battle to turn around against an enemy we can’t see or fight,” he wrote.
Mr Dennis left behind a note in the plane which was found 435 days after he wrote it.
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'Light must be at the end of the tunnel'
Delta Air Lines wrote on Facebook on Thursday (local time) another pilot was undergoing his checklist before take-off when he found Mr Dennis's note.
"Hey pilots - It's March 23rd and we just arrived from MSP (Minneapolis−Saint Paul)," Mr Dennis’s note reads.
"Very chilling to see so much of our fleet here in the desert. If you are here to pick it up then the light must be at the end of the tunnel. Amazing how fast it changed. Have a safe flight bringing it out of storage.”
Delta Air Lines wrote Mr Dennis’s note “captured so much of the uncertainty and emotion we all felt”.
“Ship 3009 is now prepared to take the skies once again,” Delta wrote.
“While the world certainly has changed over the past year, one thing is for certain: we won't be taking that open runway for granted anytime soon.”
People in awe of 'eerie' note
On Facebook, people called the note “eerie”.
One woman thought it was strange Mr Dennis had a sense the pandemic “would most likely not be over in a short time”.
“Given all the things we have been through for the past 435+ days, it’s impossible to not feel touched by this note,” one man wrote.
“It’s a message of hope and that resilience always wins amidst adversity. I can only imagine the magnitude of the feelings those pilots experienced on those different dates.”
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