An American Airlines flight operated by Mesa Airlines on January 17th, departed Phoenix, Arizona and made an emergency landing in Dallas/Ft.Worth. The mechanical issue stemmed from a broken fan which caused smoke in the cockpit.
Footage
A video taken of a crew member giving instructions for the brace position has gone viral.
The footage was filmed by a passenger who also happens to be a certified pilot. In the video you can hear a bit of panic in the crew members voice but ultimately everyone seems to remain calm. The crew on this flight certainly did a great job under these tense circumstances.
There is mention of an emergency evacuation upon landing. However, after the plane touched down, the First Officer comes over the intercom and informs the passengers that there is no need to evacuate but instead to remain seated as they have the mechanical issue checked out. I am glad that everything ended safely. The plane has been inspected and is back in service.
My Thoughts
Watching the video, it was impossible for me not to immediately put myself onboard that flight and try to imagine how I would handle myself in this situation. I have experienced an emergency landing once and it caused fear in me immediately. I remember the pilot announcing that we would be landing in Frankfurt on our flight from London to Delhi. I glanced over at my husband and told him that I was scared, he did his best to assure me that everything was going to be fine. I held my daughter tightly and hoped for the best.
I always travel with my young daughter and my first thoughts watching the video above was, how would I help Lucy stay calm and prepare her to brace for landing? She is a smart little girl and quite brave, imaging her in a panic frightens me. I think I would be more scared than her in these moments. However, I’d like to hope that I would do my best to put on my bravest face, give her a big kiss and tell her that we are going to be alright if we follow the instructions.
I hope that we may never have to experience another scare in the air, but in the unlikely event that we do, I hope that we will be able to remain calm and collected just as these passengers did.
Have you ever had to assume the brace position or experienced an emergency on board? How would you react in this situation? How would you approach it with your kids?
Thank God I have never experienced an emergency landing and I’m a F/A for 37 years. However, on the morning of January 13, I was woken by an alarm stating a ballistic missile was headed towards the islands of Hawaii ( I live on Maui ). I was scared and panicky. What made it worst is when my daughter who is 24 starting crying. I tried to keep it together for her sake, but it wasn’t easy. Even after the warning was eventually found out to be false ….the fear lasted awhile. God bless this crew for there bravery and professionalism. I hope I never experience an evacuation, but if so, I’m hoping I would let my training kick in and face it head on.
There is so much here I can relate to. While I don’t have any formal training I do hope that calm prevails so that I could be the leader that she would need in a situation like that.
Carly, I’ve experienced several emergencies; worst one was back in 1997 on Continental A/L MD80–crash just after lift-off due to multiple burst tires (lot of damage to the port wing and undercarriage). We got the full screaming Brace, Brace, Brace the whole time down the runway. Longest 25 seconds of my life. We evacuated to the rear. My son handled it far better than I did and he was only 9 at the time.
That would be terrifying!
I can imagine 25 seconds feeling like an eternity. I’m glad that it all ended well.
I watched the video from start to finish but somehow missed the crew instruction to remain filming once in the brace position. I guess as a certified pilot he knows best….
The need for people to film emergencies has gotten out of control. This pilot should have his certification revoked for being so careless.
Is screaming “Brace!!!” again and again like that standard procedure? I can understand the need to communicate instructions and make sure the passengers are following them, but hearing the crew shout non-stop in wild panicked-sounding voices does not sound like the best way to keep them calm. Not that I’ve been in the situation myself (knock on wood) but I’d imagine it being some mental effort to keep cool, and this would just *not* make it easy.
@Steve: Yes, and on my crash the flight attendants were not panicky while they shouted it.