A story about a disastrous plane journey has caused controversy this week.
A passenger on a plane has sparked drama.
After their stomach issues caused the plane to make an emergency landing!
The majority of us will have taken a plane once in our lifetime.
And if you’ve ever been on a flight, you’ll be aware of the cabin crew’s routine before takeoff.
The one where they tell you the exits, and how to fasten your seatbelt.
Well, you might also remember that there’s a guide for passengers tucked into the seat in front, telling you exactly what to do in the event of an emergency.
In addition to showing you how to put on your oxygen masks, there’s also another important part.
And that’s a diagram showing you how to do the brace position in the unlikely case of a crash.
But why was the brace position created, and who came up with it?
Well, the “world’s most experienced pilot” has shared the secrets behind it all.
The position is supposedly meant to prepare your body for impact, helping to shield the most important areas.
And is achieved by bending over and putting your hands over your head.
However, there have been some rumors suggesting it’s designed to kill immediately on impact.
Despite this theory, the pilot in question has denied that, sharing that the first is the true reason why.
Nick Eades, the world’s most experienced Boeing 747 pilot recently revealed to LADbible: “What you’re trying to do is to stop people breaking their necks in a big impact.”
He continued: “You’re just trying to get the body into a position that’s going to suffer the least damage. It’s like whiplash – you’re trying to avoid that sudden movement of the head, which can result in serious injury, if not death.”
And in his forty-year career as a pilot, he’s had to tell passengers to brace more than a couple of times.
Eades said: “I’ve had a couple where we had problems with the landing gear, and the cabin crew shouts to all the passengers, ‘Brace, brace!'”
“Now, if you think about it, I would say at least half – probably three-quarters – of passengers on the airplane don’t speak English as a first language. And if you think about it, what does ‘brace’ mean?”
He explained: “It took a long time for the aviation world to realize if you’re suddenly thrown into an emergency situation and people start shouting ‘brace’ at you, you might think, ‘What the hell do they mean?'”
After reviewing the old way of doing things, Eades shared crew are now being told to give new instructions in the event of an emergency. “The brace position is going to become redundant, so cabin crew won’t shout ‘brace’ at you anymore.”
“They’ll say, ‘Head down, hands over your head. Head down, hands over your head.’ At least that gives somebody in probably the most stressful position they’ll ever be in in their lives something to do.”
Eades also shared some other fascinating information…
He gave some inside info on why they dim the lights and why passengers are told to open the blinds before landing.
The pilot said: “In Rhodesia in the 70s, they had a war and there was a viscount – which is a four-engine propeller airplane – coming into land.”
“But all the blinds were up and that gave the terrorists – the guerillas in the jungle – something to shoot at. What these guys were doing was they were waiting for the airplane to come in and the lights were all on. They could actually see something and they shot two of the viscounts down, with a loss of life.”
The other reason is it also helps passengers in an emergency, or if there’s a failed landing.
Eades continued: “Let’s say you’re landing at night. If the blinds were all down and the lights were up, if suddenly everything became dark, it takes the human eye quite a long time to react to the change in light.
He continued: “So what we do now is we dim the airplane for landing at night, and we lift the blinds up so people can see out, and also so their eyes are adjusted to the light.”
He added: “A part of the eye opens and closes, and it takes a while to do that and to adjust to the light, so it’s just adjusting people to the environment, just in case there is a problem. You’ll have a far greater chance of being able to see what’s going on and getting out.”
However, there are other things we can do to stay safe.
Including choosing our footwear carefully!
Speaking to whattowear.co.uk, a flight attendant has revealed the shoes you should never wear on a plane.
Andrea Fischbach said: “Heels can possibly cause further damage to emergency exits or hurt others if they go flying off somehow.”
“I would really advise against high heels or flip-flops or any slides, mostly for safety purposes.”
“If there is an evacuation and slides are required, your high heels will have to come off, as they can puncture the slide.”
“Who knows where and in what conditions you’ll land?”
“Plus, they aren’t very practical running gate to gate.”
“As if another reason is needed, they make the metal detectors go off (if you are lucky enough to have pre-check) thanks to nails in the heels.”
And Crocs and flip flops are also a no-no.
“Flip-flops and backless shoes can also end up flying off your feet, and your feet are more likely to freeze, especially during a long flight.”
“Be wary of wearing sandals if you are planning on going in the lavatory.”
“’That isn’t water on the floor (yes, use your imagination), and sandals invite whatever that liquid is to splash on your feet.”
Yikes!
But this week, a plane story has taken the internet by storm.
After a passenger’s diarrhoea caused a plane to force an emergency landing.
In a text message sent to Air Traffic Control, the captain wrote: “Divert to ATL — passenger diarrhoea all over aircraft — biohazard.”
The air traffic control messages echoed: “It’s just a biohazard issue, we had a passenger who had diarrhoea all the way through the plane so they want us to come back to Atlanta.”
“My partner was on that flight! It was pretty bad. It was dribbled down the aisle, and smelled horrible,” a passenger told the Daily Mail.
“The vanilla scented disinfectant used on it only made it smell like vanilla s***. After the plane landed, it was thoroughly cleaned. They didn’t leave until around 2:30am.”
Another added: “Both my wife and I were on the flight. It was a mess. The pilots made the right decision to turn around. The ground crew ripped out the carpet and put new in.”
Luckily for the passengers, the cleanup was swift, and there was only an eight-hour delay to their journey!