I’m guessing we have all been on a plane that has experienced a bit of turbulence. You bounce around a little, the drinks trolley knocks someone’s elbow and a painful scream rings out, somewhere at the back of a plane a baby begins crying and doesn’t stop for the rest of the flight. It’s unpleasant but the plane continues on its merry way and all is soon forgotten, except for the crying baby of course.

What many of us have never (and will hope never to) experience is a plane’s emergency landing, something British man Ethan Williams was privy to on a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles. Fair play to the people on board, they do remain rather calm in such a stressful situation. Below from Stuff:

Cathay Pacific confirmed that an equipment cooling fan failed, forcing the flight to land at a remote air base in the Aleutian Islands.

Smoke was detected around the cockpit area, prompting the captain of Flight CX884 to divert to Eareckson Air Station on Alaska’s Shemya Island, the airline said.

“Once again, we apologise to passengers for the delay, but everybody is safe and sound, and that’s what’s the most important,” Cathay Pacific spokeswoman Jennifer Pearson said. “They’re now at their destination.”

All’s well that ends well, and at least now we can say we have seen what happens when a plane makes an emergency landing without the hassle of kakking our own broeks.

[source:stuff]