I travel a lot for work, mainly between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia but for some reason, I can’t seem to get used to the turbulence, it keeps scaring the hell out of me.
Last night, I had a flight from Dammam to Beirut @ 8:20 PM.
I got on the plane at about 8:00 PM. A couple of minutes later the electricity went out… I’m not very superstitious, but I don’t think the lights going out is a very good sign! It was funny coz some of the passengers started joking “n2ata3et el kahraba? Wselna 3a lebnen bi hal ser3a??” (Electricty cut? We’re already in Lebanon?)
The lights came back on about 10 seconds later. The boarding was completed and the captain asked the flight attendants to “arm doors and cross check”. As we started pulling away from the gate, the lights in the cabin were still flickering… It didn’t look very good
We had just started to taxi when all of a sudden the engines shut down! The captain then said “Cabin crew, disarm doors and cross check”. He then said that we were facing a small technical problem and that it will be resolved ASAP.
All of a sudden an ambulance and a firetruck parked right outside the aircraft.
Without electricity, the AC wasn’t working. Seeing as it was a cool 35 degrees with humidity, everyone was complaining about the heat. A weird looking truck parked right under the plane and started to pump in cool air. I had no idea such a truck existed to be honest.
And as we all know, all Lebanese people think they are knowledgeable in just about any topic. So a bunch of passengers walked to the front of the plane to share their experience and advice with the flight attendants… These are some of the comments I overheard:
– “Eh, ana sayra ma3e kaza marra, mesh awwal marra… walaw!” (This has happened to me so many times before.. come on…)
– “Hal meshkle akid khassa bel landing gear, ana 7assayt awwal ma tle3et 3al tiyyara enno fi shi ghalat..” (I’m sure this has to do something with the landing gear, I felt it the second I stepped on board)
About an hour and a half later, the “minor problem” was fixed (BTW, they didn’t tell us what the issue was). During that time, a couple of passengers stood up, gathered their stuff and asked to disembark. They were let out, but they had luggage checked in. So we waited for another hour for their bags to be located and removed from the plane
So we finally took off at about 10:45 PM. The flight was horrible to be honest, very turbulent, but after 4 glasses of Black Label, I felt like I was on a roller coaster and almost passed out
Only four BL…and you passed out? You need some special training lol.
*almost*
A well deserved hamdella 3al saleme… Which airline company was it by z way?
Oh my oh my oh my 🙁
i dont envy you AT ALL! i DREAD flying and i swore never to step on a plane again after my last trip… http://mayazankoul.com/2010/05/19/back-but-still-shaking/
i heard it was quite bumpy last night. I came back from the gulf on tuesday AM and i got a bit of it.
but it ain’t TURBULENCE unless the overhead lockers crack open and the luggage falls on your head…it’s not pretty…
I hate it when they don’t tell you what’s wrong. I’d like to know. if it’s a worn tire, that would be easy, change the tyre and you’re safe. but if it’s the pressure seal on one of the doors, then i would think again and consider disembarking because a replaced tyre is not as scary as a quickly replaced pressure seal whatever that may be…
anyway they serve alcohol on KSA flights?
Same thing happened to me once. I was in a Delta flight going from France to Cincinnati. A few seconds after we left the gate, the engine shut down (twice). Then we were stuck in the plane for over an hour and unlike yours, they did not pump in air. It was hot and stuffy and you couldn’t breathe. Finally the captain told us that they fixed the part that was broken and that we should not worry since we only need that part for takeoff and landing. I might be wrong, but I think landing is pretty important 🙂
Yeah Ronman, they serve alcohol on all MEA flights (i think), however they don’t serve you if you’re on the ground in Saudi. Once you’re airborne it’s ok.
Annie, I think landing is important too 🙂 They once let me sit in the cockpit to see the landing, very cool experience
I’m surprised nobody went to the cockpit and tried to assist the captain.
Chahe, that truck that blows air is called a Puffer or a huffer if I’m not mistaken. not sure if that is the official name but it’s at least a nickname for it… 🙂
Takeoff and Landing are the most important and dangerous part of the flight. so he better be sure that part is installed right. 🙂
here’s an old plane related riddle, if a plane crashes on the border of Canada and the U.S, where do they bury the survivors?
Why would you want to bury the survivors? 😉
Chahe, you suck at being a good sport. let someone else get it wrong first LOL…
threw that once at a bunch of international lawyers, they whipped out the law books and started throwing rules and regulations across the table…poor survivors, these lawyers don’t give a shit about anyone :P….they want to bury everyone alive…can’t believe i almost became one.
Sorry dude, next time, i love riddles 🙂