Sá þessa grein í blaði Flugvirkjafélagsins frá 2001. Nokkuð góð saga
http://www.flug.is/media/frettablad//Fl ... nn2001.pdf
Þetta er sönn saga, sem birtist í einu af mörgum
fylgiblöðum The Chicago Tribune, “Travel” og kom
út 6. júní 1999. Þar var sagan nefnd “Choppy Skies”
eða “Að höggva á himnum- hvíthnúa flug með Air
Zimbabwe”. Höfundur hennar er Gabby Plattner.
Plattner hafði ásamt félögum sínum verið á
bakpokaferðalagi í Afríku og beið eftir flugi frá
Kariba flugvelli í Zimbabwe til Hwange. – Við
gefum honum orðið:
Sagan er hér birt á frummálinu, ensku.
Our flight was delayed, so we settled down to wait. And
wait. Three hours later, we were finally told the plane
was ready to board.
Air Zimbabwe bought many of its
planes second-hand from other airlines, and the one we
got into was no exeption. Dirty and ancient, the midsize
jetliner was clearly one that no one else had
wanted. Inside, we settled into the seats with 80 or 90
other passangers and waited. And waited some more.
Finally, the pilot´s voice came over the loudspeaker.
“We´re all ready to go ladies and gentlemen. However,
we´ve been waiting for the copilot, and he still hasn´t
arrived. Since we´ve already waited so long, we´re just
going to be flying without a copilot today.” There was
a nervous buzz through the cabin. He continued, “If
any of you feel uncomfortable with this, feel free to
disembark now and Air Zimbabwe will put you on the
next available flight to Hwange.” Here he paused.
“Unfortunately, we are not sure when that will be. But
rest assured, I have flown this route hundreds of times,
we have clear blue skies, and there are no foreseeable
problems.”
No one in Plattner´s group,
doubtful as they might have
been, wanted to wait any
longer at Kariba for a plane
that may or may not
materialize, so they stayed
onboard for the one-hour
flight.
Once the aircraft reached
cruising altitude, the pilot
came on the loudspeaker
again. “Ladies and
gentlemen. I am going to use
the bathroom. I am going to
use the autopilot and
everything will be fine. I just
don´t want you to worry.”
That said, he came out of the
cockpit, fastened the door
open with a rubber band to a
hook on the wall.
Then he went to the bathroom.
Plattner continues: Suddenly, we hit a patch of
turbulence. Nothing much, the cabin just shook a little
for a moment. But the rubber band snapped off with a
loud “ping”! and went sailing down the aisle. The door
promptly swung shut. A moment later, the pilot came
out of the bathroom. When he saw the closed door, he
stopped cold. I watched him from the back and
wondered what was wrong. The stewardess came
running up, and together they both tried to open the
door. But it wouldn´t budge. It slowly dawned on me
that our pilot was locked out of the cockit.
Cockpit doors lock automatically from the inside to
prevent terrorist from entering. Without a copilot, there
was no one to open the door from inside. By now, the
rest of the passangers had become aware of the
problem, and we watched the pilot, horrified. What
would he do?
After a moment of contemplation, the pilot hurried to
the back of the plane. He returned holding a big axe.
Wthout ceremony, he proceeded to chop down the
cockpit door. We were rooted to our seats as we
watched him. Once he managed to chop a hole in the
dood, he reached inside, unlocked the door, and let
himself back in.
Then he came on the loudspeaker, his voice a little
shakier this time than before. “Ah, ladies and
gentlemen, we just had a litle problem there, but
everything is fine now. We have plans to cover every
eventuality, even pilots getting locked out of their
cockpits. So relax and enjoy the rest of the flight!”
Mynd tengist ekki þessari sögu
Það hafa fleirri lent í þessu:
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/new ... 8e8976bc04
Kveðja,
Eysteinn.