I was sitting in the aisle seat of the three seats contributing
to my side of the plane. I didn’t know
anyone around me, and frankly, was happy about that. I put my headphones in and went trancelike
(through the waiting on the tarmac, through the speeches and take off prep, and
through most of the flight…). At some
point during the flight (but very near our destination) the pilot came onto the
speakers, so I listened. The gist of the
speech was that we were circling in an attempt to get some part of the plane functioning (that must have been why we waited so long to take off). The people around me started praying. I put my headphones in my ears.
The pilot came back on, so I listened. At this point he indicated that the attempts
for forcing a plane to be functional had failed and we were preparing for an
emergency landing. He indicated that we
could land without whatever thing it was that we didn’t have, but, it was a
risk. I appreciated his honesty. People around me prayed louder. I thought, “damn, I should have prepared
more...”.
I thought quickly about what I knew…verify belt latch tight
and secure…items below seat secure…no water below, screw floatation devices…oxygen
above, that when available I should give myself before assisting
praying-woman-next-to-me (whose head was tucked between her knees, so she might
miss the oxygen opportunity)…there is a door to my right I should study to
verify I can open it when the two praying-people-next-to-me miss the
opportunity… I should have looked at that emergency leaflet in the back of the seat
in front of me…I really should have prepared more…too late now...just go with your instincts...
In the end, the plane came down safely amidst emergency
vehicles on the runway. There was no
issue landing, we had a good pilot. I
learned that I retained a lot more information that I thought I did. I learned that you can study a door well
enough in a plane during an emergency landing to prepare yourself. I also learned that I should prepare more
(read that damn leaflet maybe). So now, when I think, "I should have prepared more"...I laugh and think, "instincts".
