Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. Some of the details may vary here and there, but the general plot is always the same. I had a morning departure time, right in that sweet spot where you are going to hit rush hour traffic no matter what time you leave. We rush to get the airplane pulled out, fueled and stocked. Complete the preflight, the paperwork and a quick recheck of the weather and Notams, and we are ready to go.
Now we are waiting for the passengers. The departure time comes and goes. About 45 minutes later, the passengers show up, disheveled and clearly ready to go. Murphy’s Law kicks in, and despite probably 1000 successful starts in a row, we get a hung start. Now we must tell the already-late passengers that we have to swap aircraft. The whole process begins again, only somehow the pressure to rush is even higher.
