RapierFugue -> RE: Things you don't want to hear over the plane's pa (8/24/2009 7:30:47 AM)
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ORIGINAL: daintydimples We knew. A good 20 minutes before we actually landed, a flight attendant came and pulled an emergency procedures manual out of a seat, then went to the back with all the other attendants. They stood there and whispered together for about 5 minutes. As the lead attendant went back to the cockpit, I asked what was wrong (we could see we were circling the runway) and she said the pilot would talk to us soon. Once the pilot explained that we had to land, they got us all into the brace position. I just so happened to be sitting next to a 3 year old who belonged to the family across the aisle. So there I am helping this tiny tot assume the brace position (her family was busy with the baby the mother had in her lap). We were all ready to kiss our asses goodbye when the gear came down. I have to say for the most part everyone followed directions and tried not to panic. That's a really good point - I've seen people make more of a fuss about a suddenly height drop (can't recall the term for it - when the aircraft hits an air pocket and just drops) than they did when told "we'd like you to assume the brace position because ..." ... when I said we didn't know, I meant the aircrew told us what was going on, but we couldn't see the emergency vehicles or suchlike out of the window - we couldn't see our hands in front of our sodding faces, the storm was that bad [:D] Interesting psychological point though; if people can see how big a fuss is being made of "their" landing, do they panic more? Logically, you'd think one would think "oh that's good, they're taking safety precautions", but in actuality I reckon I'd have shit myself if I'd seen shedloads of emergency crews waiting for us. I’m also fairly sure they deliberately waited until the last possible moment to tell us too … I’m fairly sure they’re supposed to tell you ASAP, but after the strikes (2 really, REALLY loud bangs, one after the other, which did cause a bit of screaming) they must have waited maybe 15 mins, and were well into final approach, before saying “ladies and gentlemen …” … OTOH, maybe they didn’t know anything was amiss until the pilot tried to lower the undercarriage and something beeped at him? I’ve also been in a DC-3 that’s had an engine fail, but that doesn’t count coz … well, coz it’s a DC-3, and they’ll stay airborne if both engines fail, so long as the passengers all flap their arms hard enough [:)] It was on an internal, mickey-mouse (actually Speedy Gonzales would have been more like it) flight in Mexico. The plane wasn’t exactly full of people carrying chickens and goats, but you got the impression they wouldn't have minded. I swear the pilot was flying low enough that you could see the smiles on people’s faces below. So that’s one evasive manoeuvre, 2 emergency landings, and one “thee plane, she no fly so good, I theenk we better land, Pedro” in 28 years of flying, where during my 20s and early 30s I was flying long-haul at least twice a week. I don’t think that’s bad going. Especially when you consider the number of miles travelled. I’d still rather drive somewhere though … if I had the money, I’d do a John Madden and just go everywhere by luxury coach, if I could drive it myself [:D] OTOH, a mate of mine used to do a lot of engineering work in more dodgy places (those serviced by Aeroflot, for example), and he's got a barrel-load of stories, including the time an entire engine fell off, or the time they landed, were taxiing at low speed, and crashed into another aircraft that was heading for the same docking bay [:D] Ooops.
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