Sunday, May 11, 2008
Turbulence strikes while I'm in the lavatory, and I become a virtual Peter Pan.
Sep 22, 2000 | Imagine you are floating.
Released from the grip of gravity, you soar through recirculated airplane cabin air, high above those who were wise enough to heed the captain's P.A. announcement. You are still clutching a plastic cup in one hand, but the beverage is now dripping from your seatmate's face. The other hand has let go of the periodical you'd been reading, bringing a whole new meaning to the term "in-flight magazine." You see these images in the slow-motion, frame-by-frame vision of one who has been forcibly ejected from his seat.
From this new and unusual vantage point, you look around and catch glimpses of insanity -- a walking cane minus its owner hurtling through the cabin, a laptop crashing against a bulkhead, an explosion of peanuts, a sea of twisting heads. No longer do you have to imagine how it would feel to fly. You are flying. You are a virtual Peter Pan -- an airborne tourist caught in the grip of severe turbulence.
This is what can happen when you fail to buckle your seat belt.
And don't forget that the seat belt sign had flashed on several minutes earlier. The flight attendants had roamed down the aisle, reminding everyone to buckle up, and the captain had warned of bumpy skies ahead. He told you to stay in your seat, to strap in tight, to be ready for a good jolt or two. However, as with most airplane announcements (except for those warning of delays or route diversions), you processed the captain's remarks as gibberish. Besides, you don't like wearing your seat belt; it's too restrictive. You were annoyed when a flight attendant interrupted your conversation to tell you to buckle up. In fact, you rolled your eyes and frowned at her.
Now look at you -- folded like a pretzel between Rows 27 and 28, five rows from where your seat is.
In-flight turbulence is nothing to kid about. Airline industry sources say that, each year, an average of 58 passengers are injured in the United States while not wearing their seat belts during turbulence. This is the leading cause of injuries to passengers and crew in nonfatal accidents.
In the 10-month period between October 1999 and August 2000, 72 passengers were injured in four separate incidents involving Chinese, Japanese, U.S. and British airliners. Perhaps the most serious incident occurred when a China Southern Airlines flight from China to Hong Kong plunged 2,000 feet, injuring 45 passengers. Although several of the injured were treated at a hospital and discharged, 21 had longer hospital stays and seven were in serious condition.
Chances are, none of the injured was wearing a seat belt.
I can't help being reminded of a video that is part of the New York City Department of Motor Vehicles license application process. After finishing the drivers test, applicants are required to attend a class, which includes a video showing in glaring detail a series of gruesome accident scenes. A state trooper then appears on-screen to address the group. When the other driver wannabes and I watched the video, we began to have second thoughts about steering the streets of New York. In an authoritative, "I've seen it all so you better listen" voice, Trooper Johnson left us with one comment about driver safety: "In all my years on the force, I've never had to pull a dead person from behind a buckled seat belt," he said.
Trooper Johnson had a good point.
Since that day, I've never failed to wear a seat belt while driving or riding in a car. And because Trooper Johnson's advice can easily be applied to airplane passengers, I always wear my seat belt when traveling as a passenger. While on duty, however, I'm forced to throw caution to the wind. The nature of the job demands that flight attendants check for compliance when the seat belt sign winks on during turbulence. It's no surprise, then, that we're usually the first to be injured.
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