I’m not a big fan of flying, so whenever I hear a story about a plane breaking apart in mid-air, I get a bit worried. Today a Qantus 747 busted a hole in the fuselodge in mid-flight, causing the oxygen masks to come down and the pilots to execute an emergency landing.
Passengers described hearing a loud bang and seeing debris fly into the cabin. As the plane depressurized, oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling and cabin crew members shouted to passengers to put them on.
“There was a terrific boom and bits of wood and debris just flew forward” into the first-class area, a passenger, Dr. June Kane, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
Another passenger, Phill Restall, of Chippenham, England, said that he was awakened by the sound of what the authorities said may have been an explosive decompression, but that there was no panic.
“It dawned on a lot of people that this was a major incident,” he told the British Broadcasting Corporation. “There was no screaming. It wasn’t your typical television movie.”
Thankfully nobody was hurt, although a lot of people were pretty shaken up obviously. Thankfully nothing like that has every happened to me (although I was on a plane that went into a steep dive once).
A crazy story indeed, but obviously things went according to plan when the emergency did occur.
I’ve always loved flying, ever since the first flight I took when I was in grade 3 (down to Disney World) and have never ever worried or felt scared in a plane (ok – maybe that’s not entirely true, there was that one time during a skydiving trip…) . Since I’ve obtained my private pilot’s license I’m more aware of what is happening during flights I am on and also very aware of the procedures that occur on each and every flight so I think that makes me feel even more secure.
You were on a plane that went on a steep dive? That’s my Worst Nightmare! Seriously! What happened? Don’t leave us hanging …
I was actually in Cuba on vacation. On a flight from Cayo-Coco to Havana the plane engines cut out and we went into a fairly steep dive, especially since we were only about 10 minutes into the initial climb. I was freaked right out, but nobody else seemed to really care. After a few minutes the pilot straightened it all out and kicked the engines on again.