This week was the anniversary of the US Airways 1549 ‘Miracle on the Hudson’. When imagining a plane full of passengers bracing for impact it’s hard not to think about the scene inside that plane from Sully whose dramatization of that flight made the entire movie.
Yesterday an American Airlines flight from Phoenix to Dallas Fort-Worth operated by a Mesa CRJ-900 made an emergency landing “due to mechanical issues stemming from a broken fan.
What American Airlines is doing operating regional jets hub-to-hub aside, the flight would appear to be AA5957.
Passenger Steve Ramsthel, himself a pilot, said that “he could smell smoke in the plane” reportedly coming from the cockpit. And he shares that everyone cooperated, just what you want to see.
“There were some people crossing themselves, but I thought the adrenaline was high and everybody just cooperated,” Ramsthel said. “It was pretty amazing to be honest with you.”
He shared video of the incident from inside the cabin, great insight into a flight attendant giving passengers instructions to brace themselves for landing. The flight attendant’s voice cracks several times. It’s chilling to listen to.
At the end of the video the first officer comes on, says they’re looking at the issue in the cockpit and that they’ll update passengers when they know more. You can hear a passenger say ‘shit’ as everyone relaxes from the brace position.
Congratulations to the crew for handling the situation professionally. The plane landed safely, was inspected, and is now back in service.
Safety first. Good job.
WOW. Scary stuff. Glad everyone is ok and fantastic job by crew and passengers alike.
I personally don’t find the video “chilling.” Rather, I’m actually struck by how “ordinary” and orderly the experience seems to be. And weird in this day and age that the crew’s handling of an emergency situation gets to be judged by the whole world! They seem to have done a fine job.
So why does the FA wait until the wheels hit the ground to say ‘brace.’?
Sounds like they messed up the communication on that one.
Why is someone filming with a cell-phone during an in-flight emergency?
I don’t seem to recall “take out your phone, turn the camera on, and reach out into the aisle to film” being part of the safety briefing.
Frankly, I thought that was well done. Kudos to the crew and passengers.