Near Plane Crash!

October 6, 2008

Pop Quiz Time: I’ll make it easy for you…True or False - To insure optimum safety upon entering the water after an emergency landing, your life vest should be inflated prior to exiting the plane. True or False?

If your plane crashes into the ocean or a Lake, would you know how to quickly and correctly put on the provided life vest? How many times have you heard the flight attendant review the instructions? If you’re like me, about a thousand times. But let’s face it; you need an advanced degree in engineering to figure out how to put this thing on…. One part goes over your head, straps are going around your waist, and you’re blowing in tubes, pulling on strings. Oh, yeah this is if you can release it from under your seat first while your plane is taking a nose dive into a body of water.

This recently crossed my mind on my plane ride from Entebbe, Uganda back to my island paradise of Zanzibar. The plane had just taken off when the engine began to resist power. The plane started jerking back and forth before you could hear the engine cut off completely. Then came the smell. A clear indication that something was burning. It was obvious that something was very wrong. I looked out the window and all I could see was water, Lake Victoria. You could hear sounds of panic coming from all the passengers. The plane felt like it was going down. The pilot makes an announcement that he is experiencing engine problems (really?!) and is going to turn the plane around and land back at Entebbe. One passenger was praying, well screaming, to Jesus to help her. Now I’m a Christian and I pray to Jesus, but I couldn’t help but think there was a better use of time at that moment then to continuously scream his name out loud. For example, I thought about the complicated life vest. If this bird is going down, I’m going to have this vest figure out by time we hit the water. Once my vest is on, THEN I’ll start praying to Jesus. I couldn’t help but think about the victims on the planes during 9/11. I’m sure they were all praying. Jesus, or whoever it is you pray to, cannot save everyone all the time. You need to do everything in your power to be a survivor and let prayer guide you. Prayer alone will not do. If that were the case, everyone on the planes during 9/11 would have survived. Back to my survival plan, I reach under my seat in search on the life vest. The guy sitting next to me anxiously watches what I am doing. For some reason I can speak and I simply point to the sign on the back on the seat in front of us “Life Vest Under Seat”. He gives me a nod and begins to search for his. Once we both have our life vests I begin phase two of plan that now involves the guy sitting next to me who I realize is quite fit and will make a good “plane-crash-teammate.” I lean over to him and say, “We don’t know what’s going to happen, but let’s be prepared. These life vests are complicated to put on and we are over the lake in a plane with an engine that keeps cutting off and is burning. Whatever happens, let’s stick together. Two thinking heads are better than one.” He is in agreement. I look around and notice others are following our lead and getting out their life vests. I had even shared my suggestion for our emergency exit. The exit closest to us was next to the engine with the problems. I didn’t want to be anywhere near that situation. Plus, it was congested with people. On the other hand, the exit in the front of the plane was clear, no one was seating around it and we could get there quite easily. He was in agreement. Our plan was in place. Now I started to pray, although I couldn’t concentrate because all I could hear was the screaming Jesus lady.

The hesitation of the engine seems to calm a bit and the pilot makes another announcement. He informs us that the problem was caused by a bird flying into the engine. That explains the “fowl” smell. Bad joke, I know. This put everyone at ease once we knew more about the cause.
Within an hour after we landed we had changed planes and were ready to take off again. When it came time for the flight attendant to provide the instructions for the life vest, you can be assured she had everyone’s full attention. As a matter of fact, I latterly saw people sitting on the edge of their seats so they could see better.
As for the pop quiz, if you answered True you are going to be trapped in the plane and drown. You are to wait to inflate your life vest after exiting the plane.

Wishing you all safe travels!