After system checks for a red-eye flight, the pilots discovered that our left wing was low on hydraulic fluid.  For mechanical reasons, lack of ground crew, and the length of our day, the company decided to ground us for the night, and have us fly a ferry flight the next morning departing at 4:30 a.m.

First problem with the cunning plan: no hotels in the area were vacant – meaning?  We slept in the ground crew’s break room, now there’s fun!  (Please note sarcasm)  Second problem: which we didn’t discover till the next morning, was that the skeleton ground crew didn’t show up to work until 5:30 a.m.  Never a dull moment in a Flight Attendant Career!

We were a crew of three, at o’dark thirty, searching the tarmac for a plane that was seemingly lost.  We soon discovered it in the extra lot and began the process of figuring out how to get in.  It was easy to open the plug door, but with no steps, up was the problem.  The First Officer hoisted himself in (6 feet from the ground to the fuselage floor), then I was pulled in by one and hoisted up by the other.  The Captain followed once I got in.

By the time the crews got there we were ready to go and they had us on our way, and only an hour late.  Breaking and entering was never so comical!  The importance of the ground crew taught to me in Flight Attendant School was really proved that morning.

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