Day 41 : AirAsia Incidents
Ok, now the only reason I'm bothered with this is the fact that things like these have been occurring frequently over the past 3 months. It's no fucking joke. The first incident was related to me by my uncle, who fortunately enough, survived the ordeal to live and tell.
This was his documented encouter and I do not know if he obtained any explanations for the scare he went through.
Philip Aw, 30th April 2007.
Moving onto our second encounter. This happened last Tuesday night, on a flight bound for Kuching from KL. AK5214. A friend of mine who happened to be on board the plane told us that half way through the flight, when the plane was cruising at the strastophere level, he heard loud bangs. Twice. And all of a sudden the plane nose-dived downwards. He thought to himself, "This is it."
Thank goodness the pilot was skilled enough to regain altitude and stabilized the plane. And then it happened again. Cups were flying, stewards were falling on the ground, the mini-trays we have our meals on we banging uncontrollably, people were praying. Everyone was too traumatized to even scream. They managed to gain control of the aircraft and land it safely at KIA.
Best part about it was that AirAsia did not even bother explaining to the passengers what went wrong. Did I mention this was one of the recently purchased Airbus A-320?
AirAsia and what she is doing for the Malaysian public is a wonderful thing. Truly, 'Now Everyone Can Fly'. One of the main reasons is due to their cost-savings at every aspect of their operations. Minimizing as much as they can, for the benefit of the people. Any Tom, Dick and Harry recognizes the many efforts put forth by AirAsia.
However, MAINTENANCE of aircraft carriers should be THE TOP PRIORITY in ensuring the safety and comfort of passengers. When you're talking about lives at stake, who the hell gives a damn about your pricing strategy?!?!?! And even if your maintenance crew is TOP class, at least allow the passengers explanations of why or who or what was the main reason for their life-changing experience on board an AirAsia aircraft.
My uncle and friend, both of whom I am very very grateful for, survived their encounters. AirAsia's track record of casualties has been 100% as far as I am concerned. All I know is that if the matter is not dealt with immediately, and changes/improvements made accordingly, I can only pray for the safety of Malaysians and our tourists whilst flying AirAsia.
Then it'll be 'Fly AirAsia. Now Everyone Can Die.'
This was his documented encouter and I do not know if he obtained any explanations for the scare he went through.
Hi,
Have you ever been in a plane that encountered a sudden cabin decompression that forces the pilot to descend from 35,000 feet above sea level to just 10,000 feet in a matter of minutes?
I went through that experience on a flight from KL to Jakarta just now and believe me, it’s really scary.
I t was about 25 minutes into the flight and I had dozed off. The flight had been 3 hours delayed, taking off at 12.30 a.m. so everyone was pretty woozy.
I awoke to the lady next to me gesticulating for us to put on our masks.
What masks? I looked and saw the cabin ahead decorated with numerous lines of silvery coloured tubes dangling from the overhead ceiling panels and most passengers quickly slipping the elastic straps over their heads and thus donning their yellow coloured masks. Then the announcement came over the p.a. system from presumably, the chief stewardess, “please don your masks” in the most serious sounding tone I had ever heard aboard an airplane.
Have you ever been in a plane that encountered a sudden cabin decompression that forces the pilot to descend from 35,000 feet above sea level to just 10,000 feet in a matter of minutes?
I went through that experience on a flight from KL to Jakarta just now and believe me, it’s really scary.
I t was about 25 minutes into the flight and I had dozed off. The flight had been 3 hours delayed, taking off at 12.30 a.m. so everyone was pretty woozy.
I awoke to the lady next to me gesticulating for us to put on our masks.
What masks? I looked and saw the cabin ahead decorated with numerous lines of silvery coloured tubes dangling from the overhead ceiling panels and most passengers quickly slipping the elastic straps over their heads and thus donning their yellow coloured masks. Then the announcement came over the p.a. system from presumably, the chief stewardess, “please don your masks” in the most serious sounding tone I had ever heard aboard an airplane.
That was when I started to feel a little concerned.
But there were no masks from the panel immediately above us, for my neighbour and me!
There was a kind of latch on the panel so I thought pressing it would release the darned masks but to no avail, despite frantic and repeated attempts by both the lady and me. We were at a loss! Everyone it seemed was breathing the requisite amount of emergency oxygen except us!!! More frantic pressing on the suspected release button, but still, the trapdoor remained firmly shut and no masks dangled downwards. I pressed the button to summon help, but the stewardesses were all too busy. No one came to our aid for agonizing minutes.
But there were no masks from the panel immediately above us, for my neighbour and me!
There was a kind of latch on the panel so I thought pressing it would release the darned masks but to no avail, despite frantic and repeated attempts by both the lady and me. We were at a loss! Everyone it seemed was breathing the requisite amount of emergency oxygen except us!!! More frantic pressing on the suspected release button, but still, the trapdoor remained firmly shut and no masks dangled downwards. I pressed the button to summon help, but the stewardesses were all too busy. No one came to our aid for agonizing minutes.
Thoughts raced through my mind; should we immediately get up and look for other seats where masks were available?
And then there was a tap on my left shoulder from the passenger seated behind us, a guy with a shaven head with his mask on, who was holding an extra mask from his panel that he offered to my lady neighbour. You see, there are four masks from each panel, to supply only three passengers, so I suppose the designers had assumed people on a troubled flight would still have the common sense to offer extra masks from their panels to their forward and backward neighbours whose overhead panels remained stubbornly closed. Can one imagine this stuff???
And then there was a tap on my left shoulder from the passenger seated behind us, a guy with a shaven head with his mask on, who was holding an extra mask from his panel that he offered to my lady neighbour. You see, there are four masks from each panel, to supply only three passengers, so I suppose the designers had assumed people on a troubled flight would still have the common sense to offer extra masks from their panels to their forward and backward neighbours whose overhead panels remained stubbornly closed. Can one imagine this stuff???
Anyway, I got the idea pretty quickly and noticed that the three guys in front of us had four tubes, so I grapped one free tube without ceremony and donned the damned mask post haste.
Now I had my own mask on and was breathing oxygen, so I looked around. Everyone had a real “this could be it” look on their faces and that was it, it dawned horribly on me. “What’s wrong with this aircraft”, a Boeing 737-300 that had been the very model which had crashed upon landing killing 40 over passengers just about a month ago in a Garuda flight ? Are we all going to die?
Now I had my own mask on and was breathing oxygen, so I looked around. Everyone had a real “this could be it” look on their faces and that was it, it dawned horribly on me. “What’s wrong with this aircraft”, a Boeing 737-300 that had been the very model which had crashed upon landing killing 40 over passengers just about a month ago in a Garuda flight ? Are we all going to die?
“Our Father who art in heaven…….:” “O my God, I am very sorry that I have sinned…..”
I made my peace with my Creator, called on His Son and His blessed Mother and made ready to die, it was surprisingly a rather calming process but then I remembered I did not have a will!!! How would Stephanie get hold of my savings???
And how would Zac be able to deal with my demise like this? O God please let it be quick and painless! Better yet, save this plane and let us live!!!
Then the chief stewardess came over the p.a. system again and said, “If you smell something burning, don’t worry, that’s just the generators used to supply the oxygen you’re breathing”
I made my peace with my Creator, called on His Son and His blessed Mother and made ready to die, it was surprisingly a rather calming process but then I remembered I did not have a will!!! How would Stephanie get hold of my savings???
And how would Zac be able to deal with my demise like this? O God please let it be quick and painless! Better yet, save this plane and let us live!!!
Then the chief stewardess came over the p.a. system again and said, “If you smell something burning, don’t worry, that’s just the generators used to supply the oxygen you’re breathing”
Really???? I thought that was just a bluff, maybe the darned engines were burning!!!!
And as I breathed from the mask, there was this sound, “whrr…whrr….” It sounded like all of us were asthmatic. For more than an hour this uncertainty droned on……
And then there was the spot of rough weather; which flying at 10,000 feet we could not have avoided; the violent swerving to the left, then to the right, and perhaps the scariest of all, the sudden free falls through who knows how many feet???
So we lumbered on, expecting the worst each moment of the way and finally heard the welcomed ” we will be landing soon”. We clapped then, for the calmness the crew had shown but most importantly, for the fact that we would be walking through Immigrations instead of being identified as body scraps somewhere between Batam and Jakarta.
And as I breathed from the mask, there was this sound, “whrr…whrr….” It sounded like all of us were asthmatic. For more than an hour this uncertainty droned on……
And then there was the spot of rough weather; which flying at 10,000 feet we could not have avoided; the violent swerving to the left, then to the right, and perhaps the scariest of all, the sudden free falls through who knows how many feet???
So we lumbered on, expecting the worst each moment of the way and finally heard the welcomed ” we will be landing soon”. We clapped then, for the calmness the crew had shown but most importantly, for the fact that we would be walking through Immigrations instead of being identified as body scraps somewhere between Batam and Jakarta.
Philip Aw, 30th April 2007.
Moving onto our second encounter. This happened last Tuesday night, on a flight bound for Kuching from KL. AK5214. A friend of mine who happened to be on board the plane told us that half way through the flight, when the plane was cruising at the strastophere level, he heard loud bangs. Twice. And all of a sudden the plane nose-dived downwards. He thought to himself, "This is it."
Thank goodness the pilot was skilled enough to regain altitude and stabilized the plane. And then it happened again. Cups were flying, stewards were falling on the ground, the mini-trays we have our meals on we banging uncontrollably, people were praying. Everyone was too traumatized to even scream. They managed to gain control of the aircraft and land it safely at KIA.
Best part about it was that AirAsia did not even bother explaining to the passengers what went wrong. Did I mention this was one of the recently purchased Airbus A-320?
AirAsia and what she is doing for the Malaysian public is a wonderful thing. Truly, 'Now Everyone Can Fly'. One of the main reasons is due to their cost-savings at every aspect of their operations. Minimizing as much as they can, for the benefit of the people. Any Tom, Dick and Harry recognizes the many efforts put forth by AirAsia.
However, MAINTENANCE of aircraft carriers should be THE TOP PRIORITY in ensuring the safety and comfort of passengers. When you're talking about lives at stake, who the hell gives a damn about your pricing strategy?!?!?! And even if your maintenance crew is TOP class, at least allow the passengers explanations of why or who or what was the main reason for their life-changing experience on board an AirAsia aircraft.
My uncle and friend, both of whom I am very very grateful for, survived their encounters. AirAsia's track record of casualties has been 100% as far as I am concerned. All I know is that if the matter is not dealt with immediately, and changes/improvements made accordingly, I can only pray for the safety of Malaysians and our tourists whilst flying AirAsia.
Then it'll be 'Fly AirAsia. Now Everyone Can Die.'
posted by Captain Oats at 7:10 PM
1 Comments:
wow.. this is scary... o_O
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