munitalP
Suspended
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2006
- Posts
- 3,802
A couple of weeks ago I had the experience of a hysterical woman sitting next to me who’s level of terror rose exponentially the closer to the ground we got – she was sure we were going to crash.
The flight was memorable in a number of areas, 1 it was the flight that Mrs munitalP gained complementary Gold from Qantas, and 2, it was the flight that bought the worst out in me, I wanted to open a door and throw that woman from the moving plane (only joking - I felt sorry for her)
Newcastle to Melbourne in a Dash 8 is one of the more ordinary flights in Australia. It’s slow (especially with strong head winds), noisy (Dash 8) and boring. This particular day a few weeks ago predominately featured the slow part. Strong head winds lead for a somewhat bumpy flight with no cabin service, outside we were only just above the clouds and general misery was setting in with the lady next to me – she must have reread the same page in her book 10 times before I truly did feel sorry and start chatting with her.
As we descended into Melbourne and lined up with the N/S runway, our ground speed dropped away to what seemed to be nothing. My neighbor probably needed a valium about now to calm her down. Her fear literally oozed from her (the poor thing) and I kept chatting with her. At about 1000M, we had an uninterrupted view of the ground as we had passed below the cloud cover and that’s when the fun and games really started!
Doris (an assumed name) clutched at my arm and asked me if we should be traveling so slow. I tried in vain over the next 60 seconds or so to give her a quick aviation lesson regarding the difference between airspeed and ground speed which she just could not comprehend.
This did keep her occupied for a few more seconds then at the point where the boundary fence at Tullamarine was crossed, she let out a scream “Oh my God, the planes crashing…”. It seemed that even the turbo props went silent for a moment then touch down. We had arrived safe and sound on a blustery day in Melbourne.
Before the plane had come to a stop, Tanya (FA) had come over to Doris and was comforting her even as the seatbelt signs were extinguished.
The moral to the story? There is none, even a heartless mongrel like myself (at least I am frequently called a heartless mongrel) did feel sorry for Doris, respect for the FA not just rolling her eyes and ignoring her and advice for Qantas – add some info about airspeed vs. ground speed into the in-flight magazine for the likes of Doris...
Doris, I hope your flight home was less evenful than the flight down and I hope the Grand kids were happy to see you!
Happy landings all
The flight was memorable in a number of areas, 1 it was the flight that Mrs munitalP gained complementary Gold from Qantas, and 2, it was the flight that bought the worst out in me, I wanted to open a door and throw that woman from the moving plane (only joking - I felt sorry for her)
Newcastle to Melbourne in a Dash 8 is one of the more ordinary flights in Australia. It’s slow (especially with strong head winds), noisy (Dash 8) and boring. This particular day a few weeks ago predominately featured the slow part. Strong head winds lead for a somewhat bumpy flight with no cabin service, outside we were only just above the clouds and general misery was setting in with the lady next to me – she must have reread the same page in her book 10 times before I truly did feel sorry and start chatting with her.
As we descended into Melbourne and lined up with the N/S runway, our ground speed dropped away to what seemed to be nothing. My neighbor probably needed a valium about now to calm her down. Her fear literally oozed from her (the poor thing) and I kept chatting with her. At about 1000M, we had an uninterrupted view of the ground as we had passed below the cloud cover and that’s when the fun and games really started!
Doris (an assumed name) clutched at my arm and asked me if we should be traveling so slow. I tried in vain over the next 60 seconds or so to give her a quick aviation lesson regarding the difference between airspeed and ground speed which she just could not comprehend.
This did keep her occupied for a few more seconds then at the point where the boundary fence at Tullamarine was crossed, she let out a scream “Oh my God, the planes crashing…”. It seemed that even the turbo props went silent for a moment then touch down. We had arrived safe and sound on a blustery day in Melbourne.
Before the plane had come to a stop, Tanya (FA) had come over to Doris and was comforting her even as the seatbelt signs were extinguished.
The moral to the story? There is none, even a heartless mongrel like myself (at least I am frequently called a heartless mongrel) did feel sorry for Doris, respect for the FA not just rolling her eyes and ignoring her and advice for Qantas – add some info about airspeed vs. ground speed into the in-flight magazine for the likes of Doris...
Doris, I hope your flight home was less evenful than the flight down and I hope the Grand kids were happy to see you!
Happy landings all
