How nice to have a good news story to inspire us. Not that it was good that a plane came down in the Hudson river, but the skill of its splendidly named pilot Chesley Sullenberger III and the survival of all on board, the speed of the rescue from the icy conditions – what more heroism could we need to remind us that life is never all bad
Then I heard that it was an Airbus. Goodness, that took me back
It was my first trip to Indonesia & I was on an internal flight from Jakarta to Bali. The plane was not very full & most of the passengers seemed to be local men. Smoking was still allowed on planes, but this airline was one of the few which permitted the smoking of kretek. The cloves which they contain produce a powerful aroma but also tend to produce minute explosions of sparks
There was nobody sitting next to me, nor in the seats across the aisle. I settled back, lost in reverie inspired by the clouds, the like of which I had never seen before. I put firmly to the back of my mind the memory of a British Airways plane which not too long before had experienced a sudden drop of 10,000 feet due to some freak atmospheric conditions somewhere over Indonesia
It was my first trip on an Airbus too. The plane I was on was obviously very new. I was very impressed by its lightness in the air, so very different from the feel of a Boeing
Suddenly I thought: It’s very quiet
I listened very hard. There was definitely no noise from the engines. No vibration either
I gave myself a good talking to. Of course the engines were working. We were descending. Now I could see the sea below, dotted with small islands. The water looked very shallow from up here
Then I became aware of a kind of whispering twittering noise coming from the seats behind. I peered round to look. The other passengers were obviously looking at something with a slight degree of alarm. A kind of white mist was coming out of the ventilators – not very thick, not enough to fill up the cabin
Crikey. The engines must really have stopped. We were just gliding
Funnily enough I felt complete confidence in the pilots’ ability to get us down. We might even be able to make it to the airport, which could not be too far away now. But even if we did not, at least the water would be warm
Hope the water is not as shallow as it looks. It will probably be a hell of a bump when we hit it
Of course my heroics were completely unnecessary. The Airbus really was just an exceedingly quiet plane & the white mist just the sort of thing that you get with brand new systems
The landing was entirely uneventful
Then I heard that it was an Airbus. Goodness, that took me back
It was my first trip to Indonesia & I was on an internal flight from Jakarta to Bali. The plane was not very full & most of the passengers seemed to be local men. Smoking was still allowed on planes, but this airline was one of the few which permitted the smoking of kretek. The cloves which they contain produce a powerful aroma but also tend to produce minute explosions of sparks
There was nobody sitting next to me, nor in the seats across the aisle. I settled back, lost in reverie inspired by the clouds, the like of which I had never seen before. I put firmly to the back of my mind the memory of a British Airways plane which not too long before had experienced a sudden drop of 10,000 feet due to some freak atmospheric conditions somewhere over Indonesia
It was my first trip on an Airbus too. The plane I was on was obviously very new. I was very impressed by its lightness in the air, so very different from the feel of a Boeing
Suddenly I thought: It’s very quiet
I listened very hard. There was definitely no noise from the engines. No vibration either
I gave myself a good talking to. Of course the engines were working. We were descending. Now I could see the sea below, dotted with small islands. The water looked very shallow from up here
Then I became aware of a kind of whispering twittering noise coming from the seats behind. I peered round to look. The other passengers were obviously looking at something with a slight degree of alarm. A kind of white mist was coming out of the ventilators – not very thick, not enough to fill up the cabin
Crikey. The engines must really have stopped. We were just gliding
Funnily enough I felt complete confidence in the pilots’ ability to get us down. We might even be able to make it to the airport, which could not be too far away now. But even if we did not, at least the water would be warm
Hope the water is not as shallow as it looks. It will probably be a hell of a bump when we hit it
Of course my heroics were completely unnecessary. The Airbus really was just an exceedingly quiet plane & the white mist just the sort of thing that you get with brand new systems
The landing was entirely uneventful
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