I bumped into this journal that I created long time ago and just wanted to share it with you....muntik na tayong di magkita anak dahil nangayari ito habang buntis si Nanay sa iyo. Kung nagkataon, wala kang Tatay. Pero the Lord is good and He always is guidine us.
Read on...
June 10, 2005
A Plane Ride to Remember
We’re bound to Chandler, Arizona, scheduled to take Cathay Pacific flight CX-906 from Manila to Hong-Kong, then connects to LA through CX-882. Flight CX-906 experienced a severe turbulence around 30 minutes after the 11:05am take-off on June 10, 2005. At first, the turbulence seemed to be one of those bumpy plane rides except that it lasted quite long for about 20 to 30 seconds; the magnitude of shaking increases as we go. Thus, passengers were all terrified, panicked and prayed calling their respective Gods. A couple of more seconds, the plane dipped down to the extent that the guy sitting in front of us was literally tossed up from his seat (because he was not wearing his seat belt!!!) bumping his head on the plane ceiling! At the very same time, all our food flipped down to the floor while our beverages soared up to the ceiling; I had an apple juice shower! I felt cold when my pants and shirt got soaked with juice. Grrr….
One of the stewardess sustained hot beverage burns while serving lunch to a passenger. The other had a broken pelvic as she was bumped by the food cart. I didn’t see what happened to the passenger when this happened. I did saw one passenger on my way out that had a neck brace at around row 56 (we’re sitting at row 61). Then on a seat near business class, we saw a towel with blood on it – don’t know the source though.
Below are some pictures that I captured after the onslaught. I was not able to shoot pretty pictures because the plane is still shaky.
Our food: they all spilled down the floor. Good thing we had a couple of bites already of our empanadas.
More food on the floor on the next few rows after our seat.
The view on the top. Those lines are the splash lines of our apple juice. Yes, you know what comes next, we had an apple juice shower! It was cold!!!
Not blood, but the tomato juice that splashed over the fuselage’s ceiling and overhead compartment.
Ambulances all set to extract the injured passengers and crews.
After all these, 20 minutes before our connecting flight, the three of us decided to stay in Hong Kong for a night to recover from the unfortunate event. We talked to Cathay Pacific Gate 1 ground staff and told them what happened to us. They first found it hard to understand why we wanted to cancel our flight because the news hasn’t reached them just yet. After a minute of discussion with these people, the ground staff lead came to us and assured us that they can cancel our flight and pull out all our checked-in baggage (apparently, she has learned what happened). Cathay Pacific Ground Staff Supervisor and Management were sympathetic and supportive enough to escort us out of the airport through the immigration, up to getting a transport to a hotel which they paid.
And so, we missed our connecting flight to LA…below is flight CX882 bound to LA. We now bid goodbye.
June 11, 2005
I have gone through quite a lot of international travels, but this is really such an experience! A first kind to me. In fact, this incident actually made it to Hong Kong newspaper! See below….
June 11, 2005
HONG-KONG, our decision – “let’s proceed to Chandler, Arizona and kick some behind!!!! ”
We made it safely. Flight was a bit turbulent but not as bad as CX906.
