Posted on 08/27/2010 10:20:18 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Passengers aboard a British Airways flight were stricken with fear after hearing a false announcement warning them their flight to Hong Kong from London was going to crash.
As the flight flew over the North Sea on August, 24 passengers heard this message echo through the cabin: “This is an emergency. We may shortly need to make an emergency landing on water.”
Reports the Sun newspaper of London:
Michelle Lord, 32, of Preston, Lancs, said: “People were terrified, we all thought we were going to die. They said the pilot hit the wrong button because they were so close together.”
Another traveller said: “I can’t think of anything worse than being told your plane’s about to crash.”
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalpost.com ...
Quick, someone find that Far Side cartoon!!!
Ask, and ye shall receive.
oops.
I am guessing that this was done deliberately......how many times has this ever happened?.....not once that I know of...
This was one of those automated announcement systems that is supposed to free the pilots from making the announcements during an actual emergency.
You would have thought that Boeing would of learned from Airbus by now that too much automation is a bad thing...
Take-offs are optional, landing is mandatory !
Another traveller said: “I can’t think of anything worse than being told your plane’s about to crash.”
How about your plane actually crashing?
And didn’t you feel really good when your plane didn’t crash?
I guess ‘emergency landing on water’ sounds better than ‘splashdown.’
Certain things like that, even if available, shouldn’t be activated by pressing one button.
A similar incident occurred in Connecticut once. A Emergency Alert was sent out telling residents to Evacuate the State. Again, wrong button.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04EFDC133BF931A35751C0A9639C8B63
Oh, those Brits and their quirky sense of humor. These are the same people that thought Benny Hill was funny. What bloody fun! Tell them all they are going to crash. Such practical jokers.
"Heheh, I'm sending Air Force One back over New York."
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