On the ground - United Flight 158, San Francisco to Chicago
Update: The intitial Tweet, followup from United, followup about my trip, AP story, SFGate story.
Update 2: Letters and comments from other passengers.
After ten minutes in the air there was a boom. The windows to my left were instantly lit brightly orange. A man in his early thirties siting near the engine threw his arm back, dodging in fright. The plane shuddered.
I could see smoke in the beam of the reading lights.
My shoulders tensed up. I had no idea what was going on.
The flight attendants flew into motion, deftly manning stations.
Beeping alarms went off. Clear, undeniable, but not screeching. Cabin lights flickered, eerily reminiscent of the engine’s color but this time inside the plane.
A captain came over the radio, letting us know an engine was out, that there was no need for alarm.
The crew prepped for an emergency landing. Don’t take your carry on items. Wait for instructions, don’t rush. A mother behind me had her young son breathe through a pillow to filter the smoke.
What followed was the shortest ten minutes of my life, all religion, sweaty palms, and honest appraisals. Other than the occasional demon on the wing, movies apparently portray this sort of thing accurately.
As we touched down firetrucks and emergency vehicles appeared across the runway. Nervous laughter washed over fear.
We were quickly moved off of the plane, confused, happy, exasperated. I called my mother. Partly because she was to pick me in Birmingham in the morning, partly because that seemed like the thing to do.
Captains strode out of the gate through the crowd, to rapturous applause. A woman wept with her hand over her mouth. We were all shaken.
