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Way back in my teenage years, long before I discovered the joys of communal fannish obsession, I revelled in the rarity of being a lone female plane-spotter, having caught the bug after a nerve-racking aborted flight to Canada which made me determined to face my fear by learning exactly how aircraft and aviation worked.
But it was only a couple of years ago that it dawned on me that all the information about how to get out of a floating plane was completely bogus. A nice theory, but it wouldn't happen: planes don't land on water, they disappear off the radar screens in a million fragments.
I guess I'm going to have to take that back, now.
There's something truly wonderful about watching a major accident from which everyone walks away. To see the media jackals, knowing how much more honed is their instinct for horror, fumbling for words fit for a celebration. Life lives!
Though I'm sure once we start getting passenger accounts, the terror will be racked up as far as it can go.
Me, I'm looking forward to hearing from the pilot. Can you imagine how terrifying that is, trying to return to the airport (if that's really true: when I learned to fly, the one thing they told us is that if the engine cuts out you can't make it back - though I suppose the height gain and glide ratios are different for passenger jets), then deciding to ditch, knowing that no-one's pulled it off before. I wonder if s/he has seaplane experience, and if it would make any difference?
Either way, I'm in awe.
But it was only a couple of years ago that it dawned on me that all the information about how to get out of a floating plane was completely bogus. A nice theory, but it wouldn't happen: planes don't land on water, they disappear off the radar screens in a million fragments.
I guess I'm going to have to take that back, now.
There's something truly wonderful about watching a major accident from which everyone walks away. To see the media jackals, knowing how much more honed is their instinct for horror, fumbling for words fit for a celebration. Life lives!
Though I'm sure once we start getting passenger accounts, the terror will be racked up as far as it can go.
Me, I'm looking forward to hearing from the pilot. Can you imagine how terrifying that is, trying to return to the airport (if that's really true: when I learned to fly, the one thing they told us is that if the engine cuts out you can't make it back - though I suppose the height gain and glide ratios are different for passenger jets), then deciding to ditch, knowing that no-one's pulled it off before. I wonder if s/he has seaplane experience, and if it would make any difference?
Either way, I'm in awe.
