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The Smell of LL

Flying your own airplane can take you to plenty of socially distant locales. Courtesy Ben Younger
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • The author contracted COVID-19 on a commercial flight, attributing his infection to complacency despite initial rigorous precautions and having a safer personal flight option.
  • He uses his experience to illustrate the dangers of complacency, drawing parallels to how pilots gradually erode safety margins until an incident occurs.
  • The article serves as a cautionary tale, emphasizing that perceived safety can lull individuals into overlooking known risks, leading to significant and avoidable consequences.
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I caught the coronavirus this past October on a commercial flight returning home from Denver. My aisle seat was toward the back of the sold-out flight with an airline that refused to keep middle seats open. By hour two of the flight, there was a line for the bathroom. All those people standing over me, breathing down my neck—I’m not an epidemiologist, but I’m going to guess that didn’t help. I also took off my mask for a few moments during the flight to inhale a bag of pretzels and guzzle a can of ginger ale, so I may be complicit in my infection.

Ben Younger

Ben Younger is a TV and film writer/director, avid motorcyclist and surfer—but it’s being a pilot that he treats as a second profession. Find him on Instagram @thisisbenyounger.

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