Tyler Doherty’s Website

So a few weeks ago, I went to visit my dad, and we became delayed in Tampa (as I was flying from Tampa to my dad’s house) we were delayed for a few reasons, A) The ramp people had to recount the bags to make sure that we were legal to take off (I was on a very full flight, on a older generation Boeing 737-300). In addition to having to check the bags, they had to put extra fuel on the plane, in case we diverted (there was dense fog in Texas). So People+bags+extra fuel= almost overweight. If we were overweight, they (SWA) would have to kick a non-revenue passenger off, someone like me, but as I was ahead in boarding than another person, they would of kicked her off. But we were not overweight so we went ahead and took off. That is the background story. And here comes where the nerver racking part is. So on approach into William P. Hobby Airport, we were cleared for the final approach, and we (the plane) needed to burn to the extra fuel off before we landed, so the captain called for full flaps and gear to be dropped early. The First Officer was flying, and he was a very junior pilot. As the landing gear and flaps dropped, the airspeed started to bleed off, rather quickly. The plane before the flaps and gear was ~10 knots above target approach speed, the speed at which you should be at on final approach, but as the combination bled off the speed, the plane got dangerously close to stalling. The stick shaker didn’t go off, but by the time the FO figured out that we were getting too slow, he threw the throttle all the way to max, from flight idle. As the plane was and older generation, the engines spooled up at different rates, and the plane banked to the left at 35* and pitched up at around 20*.  The  nerve racking part, other than what just happened, was to think what would of happened if we had stalled, as we were only a few hundred feet above to ground…

The rest of the flight was uneventful, but that is probably the most eventful flight I have ever been on.

Tyler Travel Florida, Houston, Southwest, SWA, Tampa, Texas, Trip

First off let me say thanks to my school for letting us go on this field trip. I had the most fun on a school related trip than ever. And now on to the juicy stuff. So we live a 4-6 hour drive from SeaWorld so it took awhile to get there. Mostly people play Nintendo DS’s in a PictoChat room or playing Mario Kart DS. Once we got there we had to sit on the bus for another 15 min so the chaperones could get everything situated with SeaWorld. Once they did that, they let us get our luggage from the bottom of the bus. We had finally arrived! The time was 5:00 pm EDT. They led us through the secondary gate and into a classroom thing where we put all of our bags down. We were then let to a pavilion where we were told the rules of SeaWorld. After that we made shark-tooth necklaces with a few beads and, of course, the shark tooth. We then had dinner and dessert. Dinner was composed of pizza and a bottled drink. Dessert was a ice cream bar in the shape of Shamu.

After Dinner, we were led around the park on a guided tour. We went to some of the animal exhibits. We went to the shark encounter, where we went through the famed shark tunnel, and we went to the Rocky Point Reserve Cove, where we visited and learned about Sea Lions and Otters. We even saw a five day old Sea Lion pup. The last  place we visited, and this is where we slept, was the Wild Arctic Exhibit where the polar bears, beluga whales, and the walruses are. We then went to where our surprise was. The Shamu Rocks show! It was a really good show. We didn’t get to sit in the Soak Zone, but we did get on camera. The stadium play We Will Rock you., so me and 5 other of my friends get up on top of the bleachers and start to dance to it with our hands above our head to try and make the cameras point towards us and this worked successfully.

After the Shamu show, we saw the Fireworks show, which was quite awesome. We then proceeded to go to where we slept, at the Wild Arctic Exhibit, where the Polar Bears, Beluga Whales, and Walruses are. The girls slept near the underwater viewing area, and they saw the Beluga Whales most of the time, and we (the boys) slept on the upper level where we slept near the Polar Bear viewing windows and the above water Beluga Whale viewing areas.

The next day, if we were good the previous day and night, we were allowed to roam the park without chaperones, as long as we were in groups of two or more, and as long as one of us has a cell phone. That day was mostly a blur to me but I do remember some hot points of the day.  The first ride on the Kraken I remember pretty good, and the ride in the full back of the Rollercoaster train, riding on The Journey to Atlantis, and some others that I took pics of.

The trip went way to quickly, and I wish whole heartily that I could pay $3,000 for the  same conditions and the same exact trip. I am now sad because I got to be with my friends at the finest, and I don’t usually get to see them out of school {Hint Hint Hint} because most of my friends live at least 30 minutes away, so the only time I get to see them is in school or at birthdays. I really don’t get to be with who they really are.

UPDATE: Sorry that I had to take the pic out, I could be sued for it, as it had pics of more than just me in it (others were minors under 18) If you know me and would like a set of pictures from my trip, contact me tyler@tylerjd.com .

Tyler Travel Florida, Orlando, Sea, SeaWorld, Trip, World