A Painful Farewell
I was flying home. We were at cruising altitude, somewhere above 32,000 feet, with zero turbulence when suddenly the plane just plummeted.
The weirdest thing was, the wings and nose stayed level, so you just felt the sudden loss of gravity and marveled as all the unsecured objects (including the flight attendant) hit the cabin ceiling. I had my seatbelt on, somewhat loosely, and I was hovering about two inches above my seat.
People were screaming, and praying. The man in front of me was telling his wife how much he loved her; the woman behind me was telling her little girl, “Close your eyes baby.” Life does imitate art, and this was a disaster movie.
I don’t know why, but I remained completely unmoved; no panic, no tears. I thought, “This is how it ends. I didn’t think it would end like this.” Then I remembered that my parents would be waiting at the gate (it was 1994), and I imagined their anguish as the waves of bad news rolled in.
Delay. Incident. Accident. Crash. Rescue. Recovery. No survivors. So, a silent prayer for Mom and Dad; then I waited for the worst. Suddenly, it was over. I don’t know how long our “uncontrolled descent” lasted.
Like all intensely stressful situations (car accidents, combat, small children’s birthday parties) time dilates. I do know we recovered at roughly 5,000 feet. The remainder of the flight passed in complete silence, barring the announcements from the flight deck and the cabin crew checking for injuries.
Instead, we all just looked at each other, and I mean really looked. It was an odd and powerful sensation, one hundred strangers having conversations without anyone saying a word. We also landed in silence, no cheers or applause.
Coming out of the gate, with all the friends and family waiting, I expected someone to break down crying or rush into their loved one’s arms. Weren’t we in a disaster movie? Instead, nothing.
A hundred silent passengers made their way to baggage claim, still looking at each other, friends and families trailing behind. And then we went on our way. Story credit: Reddit / (coldfarm)