"This is an Emergency. This is an Emergency"... the recorded announcement repeated itself.. When you're in a plane flying at 38,000 feet , this is the last thing you ever want to hear being announced in your plane . And with you in it. "It only happens to other people. In the movies." You thought. Not to you. Can never happen to you. Never in a thousand trips that you gonna make. Never. A denial. Grasping on faint veil of hope. Hoping this is not actually happening. Unfortunately this time its your number being "announced".
That recorded announcement , though I heard it first time 13 months ago, is still fresh imprinted in my memory as if it happened just yesterday. Loud and clear as it is was yesterday. That message was exactly what I and another 500+ passengers heard on board a Boeing A380 flight TR*317 .This incident occurred just over a year ago last January 2014 , whilst flying en-route from Heathrow Airport London to Singapore which resulted in my flight TR*317 being diverted and conducted an emergency landing at Bako, Azerbaijan..and stranded in the Airport terminal for over 25+ hours. !!
( * the real carrier name starts with S - a reputable and internationally acclaimed , award winning national carrier of an island-state - which shall remains nameless throughout this piece.. to protect its reputation) Though I would not named the carrier , I shall identify the carrier with an alternative alphabet shifted by a letter -you can try to guess which aircraft carrier..)
Close you eyes and let me take you to re-live some of the moments .
Upon the announcement , you felt a sharp pain in both of your ear as the plane descend rapidly from 38,000 feet to 10,000 feet in just over few minutes.The sudden pressure change was too fast for your old ears to accommodate to equalise pressure across the ear drums. Ouch. "Ting" and the air masks from the overhead compartment dropped dangling above you. Instantaneously upon hearing the announcement, the plane's rapid descend and the air masks dropping , you heard this uncoordinated but simultaneous chorus of cries and shouts from the 500+ passengers aboard the plane. The lights temporary went out. Emergency lights lighted the plane. Eerie cries , shouts and then silence. Frantically you pulled the air mask over your head and try to breathe calmly over the chaos.. Cool oxygen enters your lungs. It was dark. You can only hear yourself breathing.... you breath heavily. This is it., you said to yourself. How come there had been no memory flashes as some movies plot had shown. Just cold sweat start flowing down your brows.
You have seen the pre-flight safety demonstrations many times before " ... in the event of air pressure drop bla..bla.. masks like this will fall from the compartment above you...bla..bla.. pull the chords towards you and put on the masks...bla..bla Breathe normally. Attend to yourselves first . ,bla..bla...." You have seen the demonstrations and heard this message many times before that you no longer pay any attention to it. Same boring stuff you said. Not that important. You prefer to check out the inflight movies whilst the crew go on with their boring pre-flight routine safety demonstration. You wondered which movie that you're going to watch first on this return leg of your journey...
Whilst I can assure that no amount of hours of watching the pre-flight safety video nor the numerous flicking of the safety leaflet could ever prepare you for this real moment. , nevertheless knowing what to expect in the event of emergency helps. I have attended aircraft (helicopter) ditching survival training courses (and its refresher) before and had used air-masks breathers in the drill exercise/s but nothing can really prepare you for this "actual "event. This is it. The moment of truth
" I can't breathe..." ,
"I can't reach the air-mask"...
" There is no air flowing"..
"Help me...help my children...some of the voices you heard..
Panic. Chaos, Cries, Freeze..this is not happening. This cannot be happening to me. Stay calm ..let the simulated training guides you ". You assured yourselves and began to breathe normally...You need to tend to yourselves first before you can attend to your fellow passengers and family members seated nearby.
"Just pull down hard on the chords " (to break the holding string) and pulled it towards you and breathe normally".(if you can under the circumstances)..Breathe normally " ..an easy statement when you're not in panic mode., but can be such a daunting task with air-masks just dropping on you and shriek of panic around you. . Breathe normally under duress is a skill that requires lots of practice - which I don't think many of us would want to subscribe too often in flights. "So excuse me - if i don't have enough practice and cannot breathe normally....." bellowed one mum..
Shock. Denial. Anger. ...you are on your own. Strapped on your seat. Helpless to assist. You read all the prayers and Quranic suraah that you remembered. , and wished that you had memorised more. You took out the Yassin book that you always carried with you and start re-reading it ..again..and again...it calms you down. Comforting. Calming. You re at peace with yourselves. Ready to confront any eventuality that you're not yet prepared to endure. You hold on the arms of your wife who was seated next to you. Assuring her., whilst actually you're trying to assure yourselves. You said your silent goodbyes and love you with your eyes....
The steward/dess/crew were no where to be seen. Most probably they were strapped onto their seats as well. Attending to themselves first . Guess they too need to remain calm and composed before they can help others.. They are humans too. For the first 30 odd minutes (felt like eternity) since the announcement ... the passengers were on their own attending to themselves helping each other - occasionally some can be overheard giving instructions and shoo-ing assurances and attempting comforting words from their seats. Surprisingly the young children seems less affected and some were even bemused with the new "toy" making darth-vader heavy breathing sound when talking to their siblings or responding to their parents.
Some mums , with unmistaken terror of helplessness in their eyes , and frantic sign languages , in their no-longer-elegant way trying to comfort children in their care (more to comfort themselves than their children) caused anxiety to other fellow passengers. The dads..most of them remains calm , cool and compose (read= some suffering in silence but need to look cool and calm ) - murmuring enough prayers for all...
After half an hour , the stewardess came out one by one bearing gas mask and oxygen bottles strapped across their chest. Comforting distressed passengers. The Captain , in a muffled voice, speaking through the air mask - most probably , announced that the aircraft was losing cabin pressure and had to take evasive action to descend and continue to fly at low altitude and will need to make emergency landing to a nearby airport. More shrieks. More cries. He reminded all to remain calm and follow the instructions as given by the crew. Needless to say the unsaid message could be...let's us all pray to our Makers for our safety .
The built up to the incident , what happens in the plane leading to the emergency announcement , how one felt and acted during the 4-hour "emergency mode" whilst waiting for the inevitable and perhaps thinking of (unthinkable ending ..) and the 25+ hours wait at Bako - the experience of being treated as unwelcome nuisance guest rather than as distressed unfortunate stranded air-travelers.. will be shared in future postings..
There were many lessons learnt for me from this incident ... some further reinforced what I am already doing., and other that I have started doing now on all my flights,
(1) as Muslim I have always carried my Yassin book on me which I read them on all flights ., regardless wherever I boarded the plane. The first 20 minutes in the plane will be spent to read my Yassin and recite the musafir doa seeking for safe journey...and thereafter tawakkal to Allah's will . Qadha and Qadar. Faith in what will be , will be. Total submission. I will continue doing this. Though I have the suraah yassin downloaded on my handphone., I still carry the printed book - in case the hp runs out of juice. This incident further strengthen this practice.
(2). have my handphone fully charged and carry a loaded SIM card of a reputable telecom provider. Unfortunately some SIM card telecom provider (eg DST) are not recognised in some areas. Your hp charger and a multiple adapter will be handy since you don't know how long you re going to be stranded and what type of plug/pin head will be available at the airport.
(3) carry small change of internationally recognised currency.. Euro , sterling or US dollars.
(4) have energy replenishing food handy.
(5) pack set of changing clothes in you carry-on.
(6) look at the plane's safety procedures especially the evacuation and emergency responses
Despite this incident., I have continued flying. In fact 6 weeks after the incident., I have to take the same flight again. The wife continue flying 2 weeks after the event. Unless you turned to be a hermit and intent to stay within your dwellings., or grew your own wings., you will need to return to air traveling sometime soon.
Alhamdulillah., I am thankful to have undergone this event and be able to talk and reflecting on it. Recent unfortunate events and its frequency of occurrence - on the routes that I normally takes , sometimes makes you wonder ... but one has to have faith. Qadha and Qadar..what will be will be,
Safe travels wishes to every one. Al-Fatihah to fellow travelers who had not returned home...
wasslam/regards
salleh Feb 2015.
You have seen the pre-flight safety demonstrations many times before " ... in the event of air pressure drop bla..bla.. masks like this will fall from the compartment above you...bla..bla.. pull the chords towards you and put on the masks...bla..bla Breathe normally. Attend to yourselves first . ,bla..bla...." You have seen the demonstrations and heard this message many times before that you no longer pay any attention to it. Same boring stuff you said. Not that important. You prefer to check out the inflight movies whilst the crew go on with their boring pre-flight routine safety demonstration. You wondered which movie that you're going to watch first on this return leg of your journey...
Whilst I can assure that no amount of hours of watching the pre-flight safety video nor the numerous flicking of the safety leaflet could ever prepare you for this real moment. , nevertheless knowing what to expect in the event of emergency helps. I have attended aircraft (helicopter) ditching survival training courses (and its refresher) before and had used air-masks breathers in the drill exercise/s but nothing can really prepare you for this "actual "event. This is it. The moment of truth
" I can't breathe..." ,
"I can't reach the air-mask"...
" There is no air flowing"..
"Help me...help my children...some of the voices you heard..
Panic. Chaos, Cries, Freeze..this is not happening. This cannot be happening to me. Stay calm ..let the simulated training guides you ". You assured yourselves and began to breathe normally...You need to tend to yourselves first before you can attend to your fellow passengers and family members seated nearby.
"Just pull down hard on the chords " (to break the holding string) and pulled it towards you and breathe normally".(if you can under the circumstances)..Breathe normally " ..an easy statement when you're not in panic mode., but can be such a daunting task with air-masks just dropping on you and shriek of panic around you. . Breathe normally under duress is a skill that requires lots of practice - which I don't think many of us would want to subscribe too often in flights. "So excuse me - if i don't have enough practice and cannot breathe normally....." bellowed one mum..
Shock. Denial. Anger. ...you are on your own. Strapped on your seat. Helpless to assist. You read all the prayers and Quranic suraah that you remembered. , and wished that you had memorised more. You took out the Yassin book that you always carried with you and start re-reading it ..again..and again...it calms you down. Comforting. Calming. You re at peace with yourselves. Ready to confront any eventuality that you're not yet prepared to endure. You hold on the arms of your wife who was seated next to you. Assuring her., whilst actually you're trying to assure yourselves. You said your silent goodbyes and love you with your eyes....
The steward/dess/crew were no where to be seen. Most probably they were strapped onto their seats as well. Attending to themselves first . Guess they too need to remain calm and composed before they can help others.. They are humans too. For the first 30 odd minutes (felt like eternity) since the announcement ... the passengers were on their own attending to themselves helping each other - occasionally some can be overheard giving instructions and shoo-ing assurances and attempting comforting words from their seats. Surprisingly the young children seems less affected and some were even bemused with the new "toy" making darth-vader heavy breathing sound when talking to their siblings or responding to their parents.
Some mums , with unmistaken terror of helplessness in their eyes , and frantic sign languages , in their no-longer-elegant way trying to comfort children in their care (more to comfort themselves than their children) caused anxiety to other fellow passengers. The dads..most of them remains calm , cool and compose (read= some suffering in silence but need to look cool and calm ) - murmuring enough prayers for all...
After half an hour , the stewardess came out one by one bearing gas mask and oxygen bottles strapped across their chest. Comforting distressed passengers. The Captain , in a muffled voice, speaking through the air mask - most probably , announced that the aircraft was losing cabin pressure and had to take evasive action to descend and continue to fly at low altitude and will need to make emergency landing to a nearby airport. More shrieks. More cries. He reminded all to remain calm and follow the instructions as given by the crew. Needless to say the unsaid message could be...let's us all pray to our Makers for our safety .
The built up to the incident , what happens in the plane leading to the emergency announcement , how one felt and acted during the 4-hour "emergency mode" whilst waiting for the inevitable and perhaps thinking of (unthinkable ending ..) and the 25+ hours wait at Bako - the experience of being treated as unwelcome nuisance guest rather than as distressed unfortunate stranded air-travelers.. will be shared in future postings..
There were many lessons learnt for me from this incident ... some further reinforced what I am already doing., and other that I have started doing now on all my flights,
(1) as Muslim I have always carried my Yassin book on me which I read them on all flights ., regardless wherever I boarded the plane. The first 20 minutes in the plane will be spent to read my Yassin and recite the musafir doa seeking for safe journey...and thereafter tawakkal to Allah's will . Qadha and Qadar. Faith in what will be , will be. Total submission. I will continue doing this. Though I have the suraah yassin downloaded on my handphone., I still carry the printed book - in case the hp runs out of juice. This incident further strengthen this practice.
(2). have my handphone fully charged and carry a loaded SIM card of a reputable telecom provider. Unfortunately some SIM card telecom provider (eg DST) are not recognised in some areas. Your hp charger and a multiple adapter will be handy since you don't know how long you re going to be stranded and what type of plug/pin head will be available at the airport.
(3) carry small change of internationally recognised currency.. Euro , sterling or US dollars.
(4) have energy replenishing food handy.
(5) pack set of changing clothes in you carry-on.
(6) look at the plane's safety procedures especially the evacuation and emergency responses
Despite this incident., I have continued flying. In fact 6 weeks after the incident., I have to take the same flight again. The wife continue flying 2 weeks after the event. Unless you turned to be a hermit and intent to stay within your dwellings., or grew your own wings., you will need to return to air traveling sometime soon.
Alhamdulillah., I am thankful to have undergone this event and be able to talk and reflecting on it. Recent unfortunate events and its frequency of occurrence - on the routes that I normally takes , sometimes makes you wonder ... but one has to have faith. Qadha and Qadar..what will be will be,
Safe travels wishes to every one. Al-Fatihah to fellow travelers who had not returned home...
wasslam/regards
salleh Feb 2015.
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| Pride in timely departures....causing conflicting goals perhaps. |
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| A380 prior to take off - with more than 500+ paying passengers. perhaps there is business pressure to ensure loaded planes keep on their scheduled take off time , creating "conflicting goals" and placing " undue pressure" on ground crew and flight staff. to okay flights are per schedule.... |
 |
| there had not been memory flashes...... |
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