"We're crashing, we're crashing, we're crashing!"

[Bluebear]

:scared:

'Stay Calm... We're All Gonna Die!'

Virgin Atlantic has launched an investigation into claims a flight attendant aboard a flight from London-Gatwick to Las Vegas earlier this week panicked when the Boeing 747 hit severe turbulence.

The aircraft was hit by storms and plummeted thousands of feet within seconds, hurling one man to the ceiling and causing general disarray onboard the jumbo jet. According to The Independent, however, passengers were mostly calm... until the flight attendant reportedly began to, well, freak out.

"We're crashing, we're crashing, we're crashing!" the flight attendant repeatedly shouted -- sending passengers into a frenzy.

"I turned round to look at our hostess for reassurance and she screamed: 'We're crashing, we're crashing, we're crashing!' passenger Claire Daley told the London paper. "And I just thought: 'It's over; if an air hostess is telling us we are crashing'. I really thought we were crashing." The flight attendant reportedly screamed every time the plane dipped -- and when she screamed, all the passengers in the back of the plane joined her. "It was terrifying. I was almost hyperventilating," said Daley. "I was sobbing -- I thought we weren't going to make it."

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=3ae2c5ff-d566-4cb3-b57e-f1532a6307b1

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

1. Oh My Fucking God!

:wow:


I feel for those people like you wouldn't believe. Holy fuck that must've been terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. God bless em all.

And lady? :wtf:

[ingac70]

3. My thoughts exactly!

I don't think I could be calm in similar circumstances, but I also am doing everyone else on the planet a favor and would never be a stewardess or pilot.
Once the turbulence passed, I can only imagine what the rest of that ride was like!

[dflprincess]

14. Oh Lord, I would have gone nuts

Except for takeoff I'm not that nervous flying. But if the plane makes a weird noise or there's unusally heavy turbulance, I always look at the flight attendants. If they look unconcerned I can relax. This one would have had me screaming for a priest (lapsed Catholics always backslide when they think they're going to die).

[Carni]

16. I have to be tranqualized to fly

And even then I have to have a visit from the drink cart...

I have not flown since 911 because I know just based on my buzzed demeanor they would throw me off the plane...

I have no desire to create terra -- just a complete blotto zone in my own mind, so that I can maintain and not freak the other passengers out when I fly :(

[spuddonna]

22. I'm right there with you...

Get me my last rites! I gotta unload a lifetime of sins!! lol

[pretzel4gore]

11. if god meant for us to fly

he'd given us wings and chirpy natures etc....

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

12. That's A Silly Argument

Just as easy to say if God wanted us to fly he would've given us the intellect to understand aerodynamics and build machines capable of us flying in them. Ohhhhhhh, that's rightttttttt he diddddd do that. :)

[pretzel4gore]

25. then again he woulda foreseen

a young trained flight attendant's panic and nipped the issue in the bud by (?)....using hocus pocus or something

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

30. You Claim To Know The Will Of God. Please Understand That You Don't.

Your argument only holds water if you have direct communication with the Almighty Himself and have been granted the authority to speak the word of God and pass on His will. Since you don't, your rationale above is severely flawed.

[MuseRider]

2. Oh lord

I am SO glad I was not on that plane! I am not a good flyer, not terrified but I hate it. That attendent should probably find another job, hopefully she will have to.

[roguevalley]

4. I have been in two near crashes over the pacific. one had

a ballast blow out and it fell 20,000 feet before hitting 10K and evening out. I could feel a straight rather smooth descent and was hopeful. You never know how you will be until it happens.

[MuseRider]

10. GAAAAAAACK!

I would have died of fright. There are two things I am afraid of. One is drowning, I am a scuba diver and had one accident with my air supply, scary shit. The other is some kind of strange fear of being blown out of a jet at 30,000 feet. I have no clue where that came from but I really think something like you experienced would just do me in.

If I have bad dreams tonight I can blame you because for once it won't be Bush** that gives them too me. :scared:

[roguevalley]

20. Muserider, HUGGIES!!!!!!!!!!! I know what you mean but it was so

surreal, I didn't really get it until a few days later. The 'ballast' thing was probably the hydrolics or something. The ability of the plane to stay stable went out the window and down we came. the little breathing masks fell, my neice and mom crawled into my lap and down we went. But we used to have commercial airplanes in our family and I knew if we got to 10K feet in one piece we would level out, such was the (relatively) smooth fall. *swallow*

[MuseRider]

21. Well I did not have bad dreams

but that story still makes me shiver. The "down we went" part.

That scene in Castaway kept me awake for about a week.

I am so glad you were all OK, yikes oh yikes, that really scares me.

I used to work for a commuter airline here and when things were slow the pilots would take us up in their little planes. They were all trick flyers, we would loop and dive but that was WAY different than a large jet in trouble.

[Higans]

17. what is a ballast blow out?

I thought ballast was in boats and subs...

[misternormal]

29. Ballast in aircraft...

Is used to maintain a particular weight in not fully laden aircraft, or to maintain center of gravity of the aircraft, taking into account passenger seating and cargo storage... This relieves the necessity to stagger passenger seating when the aircraft is not full...

[napi21]

5. What in the hell kind of training do they give their flight attendants?

They are SUPPOSED to be trained to be the ones onboard who remain calm...in EVERY emergency! Don't tell me she's human. I know that, but flight attendant training is a very involved and intensive routine, and it's done that way to make sure NO attendant ever reacts like that one did! Shame shame on Virgin Atlantic!

[ingac70]

6. My husband once worked for Virgin Atlantic...

And he told me their attendants get the crappiest wages in the industry.

You really do get what you pay for!

[Yollam]

8. Poor thing must have had a sudden anxiety attack.

I feel bad for her, and all the people she frightened. At least it was a false alarm.

[cally]

7. I can't imagine how awful that was on the plane

but I have to admit, I am laughing. Too funny.

[Sperk]

9. what did she say when the plane stablized..."Oh, that's very different..

nevermind."

I totally would have puked.

[Bluebear]

13. "Chicken or beef?" nt

[pitohui]

15. fire her lame ass

jeez, they are supposed to train these people, what if they actually were crashing, would her running around like chicken w. head cut off help anything?

[bigtree]

28. what is she, a frickin soldier or something?

she's a flight attendant for shit sakes. News flash . . . she's human.

[Generic Other]

18. Oh man, I feel for them all even the panicked flight attendant

Shouldn't someone have slapped her. That's what they do in the movies when someone is hysterical.

[hootinholler]

19. Quick! Blow up the autopilot...

Sorry, I really do feel for these people, but, it sounds like a scene out of "Airplane"

-Hoot

[Swamp Rat]

23. They need to 'ground' that flight attendant permanently!

:eyes:

[Cleita]

24. I have heard flight attendents say too much at times.

Once when on a flight on a DC 10 that kept getting fixed in unscheduled stops in airports along the way, the attendent casually mentioned that "The tens break down all the time. One of these days one of 'em is going to crash."

[pretzel4gore]

26. like a ship captain greeting passengers 'hope you know how to swim!'

lol.....i do.....

[Hubert Flottz]

27. Stuff like that is exactly why...

I always carry a box of dirt to stand in, when I fly the friendly skies.

[dysfunctional press]

31. ALWAYS keep your seat belt on and fastened on a plane in flight

this is exactly why.

[northzax]

32. I don't like Virgin anymore

ever since I spent a flight over the Atlantic drinking with a flight attendant, there were about 25 people on the 747, nice 2-1 crew to pax ratio- we all got bumped to Upper Class (yes, that's what virgin calls it) and I talked with two attendants and drank with them the whole flight. fun, but not professional.

[Harald Ragnarsson]

33. Someday these folks are going to look back on this and laugh! n/t