Here's a Friday joke for you: How many Chinese airport workers does it take to push a 20-ton plane with 69 passengers and 7 crew? The answer: 30.
If you're not laughing yet, it's because it's not actually a joke, but a true story. This week in Zhengzhou a CRJ7 plane landed with a faulty front hydraulic system, which apparently meant it couldn't be attached to the tow truck. So airport officials sent out 30 staff to push the plane instead.
Two hours later, the 30 exhausted workers had pushed the plane less than half a mile but it was neatly out of the way and the passengers could disembark. And at least the airline didn't ask the passengers to get out and help push. Perhaps that's what they'd do on a low-cost carrier?
Passengers on a Qantas 747-400 got to try out emergency oxygen masks yesterday when the cabin depressurized as a chunk of the cargo bay blew off the airplane. The flight, QF 30, operates from London to Hong Kong to Melbourne, and it was on that second leg when the accident occurred. The pilot put the jumbo jet down in Manila, at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, where there were no injuries reported among the more than 300 passengers and crew.
Leave it to an Aussie to be totally rational about the wild ride:
There was a terrific boom and bits of wood and debris just flew forward into first and the oxygen masks dropped down. It was absolutely terrifying, but I have to say everyone was very calm.
People were so relaxed that flight attendants were actually working the aisles wearing portable oxygen masks, which totally impresses us.
After landing in Manila, passengers deplaned for a bit then got back on another aircraft that was specifically sent to pick them up. Hope there were free cocktails!
The past 24 hours have been filled with some pretty unhappy landings. Earlier this morning in Ormond Beach, Florida, a small passenger plane was forced to make an emergency landing on Interstate 95 after it inexplicably lost power. Southbound lanes on the highway had to be shut down to accommodate the plane just before noon.
And yesterday in Phoenix, a Southwest flight coming in from Austin, Texas caught fire on the runway at Sky Harbor Airport. All 127 passengers aboard the plane had to be evacuated after the back right landing gear burst into flames. A spokeswoman for Southwest said "another plane will be put into service as soon as possible." Good idea!
Sadly for all you pyros out there, this incident didn't result in any cool photos like the ones we saw after the infamous flaming JetBlue landing in 2005.
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by amandak
