Once I had to attend one urgent business meeting
in Delhi. The fastest way that I could have
reached Delhi from Kolkata was by air. So I
immediately booked an air ticket through our
company's travel agent to reach Delhi the next
day. Everything was set and I left my office for
the airport.
After clearing all the check-in formalities I
boarded my flight. I had travelled by plane
several times before and never faced any
problem. I never expected any problem this time
either, but destiny had some other plan.
After the plane took off from the airport I
started to mentally prepare myself for the
meeting. This meeting was called on a very short
notice and I never had enough time to prepare. I
checked the presentation and other details in my
laptop.
Then all of a sudden I felt a strong jerk in my
seat. I looked around and saw that everyone in
the plane felt the same. After that turbulence
the plane started to shake slightly. All of us
really got petrified at this and was wondering
what was going on. The shaking continued for
some seconds when suddenly the captain made an
announcement stating that there was a technical
snag in one of the aircraft's engines and so it
is for this reason the aircraft was experiencing
the jolt. He requested us not to panic but tie
our seat belts quickly. He assured that
everything will be under control shortly.
But things never got under control after that.
On the contrary there was another jerk in the
plane and it started to descend in altitude.
Then the captain again requested us not to panic
as he was trying to fix the technical snag. Most
of the passengers understood that a serious
problem may have occurred. After frequently
questioning the air hostess, we came to know
that there has been a technical snag in one of
the engines for which the plane was gradually
losing height. Hearing this we started to pray
and remained clinched to our seats. It had been
already two hours by then. I was only praying
that we reach Delhi airport and somehow make a
landing. Just then the captain announced that we
have reached the Delhi airport and the plane was
preparing to land. We all gave a sigh of relief!
We were all still scared though.
The captain sounded quite confident and his
announcement brought us back to life. We all
remained glued to our seats and kept praying to
our Gods for a safe landing. After sometime we
felt the plane touching the runway and then the
captain announced that we have successfully
landed. We thanked the pilot and quickly left
the plane still horrified.
This was quite a narrow escape!
After escaping this near death situation, I was
quite afraid of travelling in a plane for some
time. Hence, while coming back from Delhi I
chose to travel by train.