CRISIS, WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN FACING ONE?

This was an incident that happened about 12 years back, it was never reported or covered by media as the incident happened a couple of weeks before a major festival holiday of Chinese New Year.

2009 I was living on a jet plane. Airports were 3rd home after hotel. Leaving Monday morning on a 10am flight to MNL for 2 weeks. It's 7am and I was still unpacked, strange. Had to drag myself to pack for the trip and only left home for the airport at 8am.

Reached the airport at 830am and the moment I cleared security I started calling family and close friends asking how they’re doing. Weird, as I never do that what more on a Monday morning. It didn’t feel right.

Had breakfast and didn't leave until I saw 'final boarding' on the screen. Even then I didn't rush to the gate until they announced my name as the last passenger. Something was dragging me back from this flight. I ignored the 'warnings' and proceeded to the gate.

The A330 was half-filled and people were seated all over. I noticed 3 SNYs (trainee cabin crew) onboard.

We just departed for about 30 minute cruising at an altitude of around 32,000 ft. After take-off, seatbelt sign off and the customary drinks there was a loud 'BANG!!'. Aircraft was stable for a few seconds and then the floor starts to shake/vibrate. Everyone looked at each other trying to figure out what’s happening and what to do and no one spoke a word.

The shake/vibration on the floor got more intense. The plane suddenly nosedived and the oxygen mask dropped from the overhead cabin compartment. It was a total chaos. People panicked and many were screaming.

There was an announcement, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking. We are having an emergency. Please remain seated, fasten your seatbelt and put on your oxygen mask.”

People just got panicked and the situation was a total chaos as many passengers decided to get up and move to another seat thinking that the oxygen mask wasn’t working as they didn’t see the bag inflating and deflating like on tv in the hospital.

It was only after the cabin crews started to strap people into their seat and explained that the bag does not inflate and deflate like what’s seen on tv that people started to calm a little. Many were seen praying, this is it.

Cabin crews were still going up and down the aisle in their portable oxygen bottle and mask making sure everyone had their seatbelt and oxygen mask on. All these while the aircraft was still nosediving.

What was running in my mind,

1)   there goes my favourite shades that flew off the moment the aircraft nosedived.

2)   30 minutes of flying time means we are still heavy on fuel and three of the closest airport can’t take an A330 meaning aircraft will have to RTB (return to base).

3)   since I have moved seat, if we don’t make it will my family be receiving the right body.

4)   my wallet is in my backpack which is in the overhead compartment, how are they going to identify my body.

5)   why was I so stubborn to not see the tell-tale signs to not fly that morning.

After more than a minute, the aircraft was under control and back to a stable position. Pilot made another announcement, “Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for the emergency. We are now at 14,000 feet, will continue our descent and will circle for a while to dump fuel. We will have to return back to the airport so that the problem could be looked into.” He sounded so calm.   

The moment we touched down we could see the airport emergency vehicles alongside as we taxied at the nearest gate. When the aircraft door was opened, everyone just rushed out. Some were seen kissing the floor and praying the moment they stepped foot inside the airport.

We were all given food vouchers and told to wait. I went to the lounge and waited there. It was more than 2 hours later that they gave us the new departure time which was almost 2 hours away as they had to change the aircraft, move our luggage and get a new set of crews.

The airline/airport made arrangement for a similar aircraft, another A330 at the same gate for the convenience of the passengers. Almost half of the passengers decided not to board worried of it being the same aircraft. No matter what the crew explained they were not getting onboard and there goes another delay as their luggage had to be offloaded. I boarded the flight, half-heartedly but still boarded. The flying time was shorter than the usual, not sure if it was the tail wind or something else.

Arrived at NAIA safely and bumped into a colleague who was supposed to be on the return flight. He was complaining about the lousy service by the airline and how the flight was delayed by 5-6 hours etc. All I told him was, you’re better off to be delayed at the airport than to be on the incoming flight that got delayed.   

My learning from the incident:

1)   Trust your instinct. Listen to your heart. God has many ways to communicate with you.

2)   Do not change seats unless really necessary. If seats were changed during boarding, make sure to notify family members/friends upfront.

3)   Do not leave precious items on the seat as emergency can happen at any moment.

4)   Airline crews are trained for emergency, in an event of an emergency onboard listen to their instruction instead of following the crowd.

5)   The oxygen mask does not inflate and deflate like what’s on tv in the hospital. Since then I realized they started to explain this in the safety briefing.

6)   When offering a solution, always try to look at things from the perspective of the customer. What we think is right might actually be totally wrong in the eye of the customer.

Shared my experience with a colleague who was looking after the aviation operations in NAIA, he actually survived an actual crash back in the 80s but lost one of his hearing due to the incident.

I reached a stage where I was flying too much and was happy to be doing a lot less of flying but now I miss flying again. To everyone in the commercial aviation industry, thank you, take care and stay strong.