Comments on: This Day Was Like No Other Day – My Flight Had To Make An Emergency Landing!

By: Tammie

Tammie — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 19:30:55 +0000

Merrill -

I think you did a fantastic job learning and summarizing for us your experience. I too am a believer in great communication. Thanks for sharing! (And I won’t complain about my Detroit run from gate 15 to 75 after the initial flight was late!)

By: Lynn Kelly

Lynn Kelly — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:30:58 +0000

Jeff is right. Almost from my first lesson in flying, I was trained in emergency procedures. And in what “pilot in command” means relative to the flight, i.e., I was responsible for, and had the final authority for, the safe operation of the aircraft. Three cheers for all that training in the flights that brought you all home in one piece.

By: Brian Ottum

Brian Ottum — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:02:15 +0000

I had a less than professional experience with Northwest. The afternoon flight to Atlanta was circling due to typical July thunderstorms. ATL was closed. After an hour of this, we ran low on fuel so we diverted to Knoxville. Sat on tarmac way out from bitty terminal. Pilot announces “well, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we have been fueled back up and Atlanta is back open. The bad news is that during refueling, it was discovered that part of our wing is missing.” So we sit for another half an hour. Then the pilot gets on and says “We are checking into ways to get you folks to Atlanta.” Another half hour passes, people starting to get antsy. He announces “we cannot let you out, because we cannot get your bag and it is unlikely you can get a car or a flight from here.” Passengers start to complain. Then he asks 15 minutes later “Does anyone have a digital camera? A good one? We’d like to take a picture of the damage.” Then 15 minutes later “Does anyone have wireless Internet on their laptop so we can send the picture to the mechanics in Memphis??”
A half hour later “We have employees out here now so you can debark and pick out your bag on the tarmac. But you are totally on your own – there are no rental cars and no flights available.”
Another 15 minutes later “The rest of you we are gonna get to Atlanta, just be patient.” “We are trying to arrange for buses to take you to Atlanta.” Two hours later the buses arrive. I arrived at the Atlanta airport with a splitting sinus headache at midnight, 9 hours late.

By: Jeff Tanner

Jeff Tanner — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:07:15 +0000

There’s an element here that I think needs some emphasis. Why was the pilot calm? Because he had mentally and physically prepared for just this scenario over and over. Like Captain Sully Sullenberger, the pilot had a plan before disaster struck, he had practiced his plan in a simulator, and he may have even reviewed it before take-off.

I am thankful that there are few instances in my life where I have to plan for catastrophic disaster. Still, when it comes to making tough choices, it helps to have planned ahead, practiced in a safe environment, and mentally review and role play before actually engaging in a tough action.

Just something else to think about.

By: Merrill Dubrow

Merrill Dubrow — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:40:30 +0000

Michele,

Wow – I have never had that happen to me. Glad the landing was very smooth.

Appreciate you sharing.

Merrill

By: Michele Zwillinger

Michele Zwillinger — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:21:04 +0000

I suppose most focus group moderators have similar stories as we’re winging it around the country all the time. I remember flying on United once. We were supposed to land in Denver, change planes and continue on to our destination.

Approaching Denver, the pilot calmly announced that a window had blown out, so that we were going to be descending rapidly, and that we were to put the oxygen masks on. He also announced our altitude – which sounded a lot like the same as the mountains surrounding Denver. There weren’t that many of us on the plane. My client excused herself to go to the back to have a cigarette. (Yes, it was a few years ago.) I wanted to finish reading the gossip pages in Adweek, and I forced myself to think about the people in the magazine rather than my two little boys at home.

We actually had a smooth landing – very far from the terminal. They bused us to the terminal. When we asked if they could hold our connecting flight for us (thinking of course they would), we were told to run and we might make it. While this was quite an experience for my client and me, the ground personnel acted like it was nothing, and they had no reason to go out of their way to help us.

The running with all of our bags was worse than the landing! Just a day in the life of a researcher!

By: Melanie

Melanie — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:43:02 +0000

The thing I realized while reading your story is that I need to pay more attention to the flight attendants when they tell us about the safety features of the plane. I confess that I often tune out. And I need to stay respectful of the rules about seatbelts, seatbacks, etc. Flights get bumpy and scary so infrequently, that those rules often seem unnecessary, but when things do go wrong, the precautions help a lot. Every situation can be made worse by bags and people bouncing around.

By: Paul Kirch

Paul Kirch — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:48:07 +0000

I was flying to Phoenix, AZ from Lincoln, NE. I was heading to a pool tournament in Las Vegas, and our layover was supposed to be about 45 minutes. We were cleared for landing and we all thought we were going in. About 30 minutes later, however, we noticed we had flown away from the city and were now outside flying along the mountains. There were a lot of rumblings about what was happening, but no one made any announcements. About 40 minutes into this diversion, they announced (operating from memory, I think the first announcement was from the flight attendant) that there was a problem with one of the flaps and they couldn’t get it to function. They told us that as a precaution, there would be emergency equipment lining the arrival area. Essentially we would be landing at a much faster rate than usual. I’ve never seen so many rescue vehicles, but I’m happy to say it was probably the smoothest, though the fastest landing I’ve ever had. To Kevin’s point, I had friend on the plane and their first comment was, “Where’s the bar.” We missed our connection and took a later flight, since a couple of the people with us were very upset. It was strange, but I didn’t get scared until after deboarding and I started thinking about what could have happened. And, my friends being upset really made me realize it could have been serious. The flight crew was very aggressively strapping themselves in after checking on everyone and the seated near us looked concerned. Still, it didn’t make me nervous. It is so strange how we react in such moments. Had I been married with a son at home, as I am now, I think I would have had different thoughts, but who knows. So, I’m glad you’re OK Merrill. In my situation, I think communication was not good, but over all, they did a great job in the end.

By: Kevin Lonnie

Kevin Lonnie — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:10:07 +0000

Merrill, I think I have the same takeaways. I’m always amazed and impressed when people are able to do their job adroitly and professionally when it matters the most.

When the guy in charge stays calm and communicates what needs to be done to everyone else, then the chances for a happy ending increase exponentially.

Still, if I were you, I would have grabbed a quick Bloody Mary (or two) before boarding the next flight.