On board QF32!

This morning I received an email from an Australian friend based in Singapore whose wife was on Qantas flight QF32 bound for Sydney - when one of its engines exploded.

I can't remember the last time an email got my heart racing quite as much. Here's how he tells the story of his wife's 'interesting' flight.

Wednesday morning, Julie leaves for a quick business flight back to Sydney. Platinum status has her in the front of the economy cabin, over the wing.

The plane takes off at 9.20am. Julie’s at the window seat; babies crying; long weekend; full flight out of Singapore.

She has the big Bose over-the-ears, noise-cancelling headphones on with her iPod pumping (to block out the babies suffering from the altitude pains) when she hears a distant thump in the background.

A passenger nearby just happens to be in the aerospace industry and is all over the situation, pointing out the holes in the wing.

Engine explodes!

Holes in the wing; bits landing on houses in Indonesia; plane circles over the Singapore Straits for a couple of hours.

Mr Aerospace points out the drama playing out on the personal TV screen. (One of the features of the A380 is a camera under the plane that you can watch through your personal screen. It’s pretty useless for most of the flight because it doesn’t add any value unless you are taking off or landing. Otherwise the view is the same as what you can see out the window. Maybe that’s the point… everyone has a view!) Well, it turns out it’s also perfect for watching fuel dump out the bottom of the plane in an emergency situation.

He is also good for some other useful facts: like how lucky they were that the shrapnel that tore apart the wing didn’t hit the cabin, and that all that fuel spilling from the wing was probably pooling inside… might have been better not to know that one!

During the circles, Julie and some other passengers turn on their phones to take photos and check for mobile coverage. Surprisingly, she manages to get a couple of seconds of coverage each time they come around over Indonesia. She shoots me a text:

“Explosion on plane lost an engine returning to Sing [SIC].”

F**k!

(Fortunately, I didn’t know about the text until I got the call from Julie from the airport later.)

So, Julie sits there watching and waiting for the engine to explode and decides to shoot a couple of photos from the air (pictured). After a couple of hours of fuel dumping and burning, the plane lands and is stopped at the end of a runway.

Fuel is still spilling out everywhere.

No one approaches the plane.

One of the engines won’t shut down.

The captain is good. He is constantly keeping people on the plane informed of the situation. He explains they practice emergency situations every three months and that they know what they are doing.

No-one is panicking. No-one is visibly upset - none of those passengers around Julie anyway.

On the ground, ten minutes passes, fuel is spilling out – still no-one approaches. The captain announces they are going to try and shoot high pressure water into the engine to shut it down. Inside the cabin it is starting to get hot since the air con is now off.

Doesn’t work!

They shoot foam everywhere to cover the spilling fuel.

Eventually they start evacuating people through the back-middle-right of the plane (lots of doors on this thing) - opposite side of the engine that is still zinging along.

One stair case; 20 people at a time; packed A380; 433 people plus 26 crew (according to news reports). Front to back.

Instructions are to take ‘medication, passport and wallet only… but stay in your seat'! As you can imagine, there is a bit of heat when half the cabin stands up to grab their passport out of the overhead luggage.

There is constant instruction not to take anything else… if you do it will be confiscated. Nothing… no carry-on… no handbags… nothing!

As it turns out, when everyone is eventually corralled into the departure lounge, there are a lot of people with their handbags, 10kg carry-on bags, bottles of Baileys… everything!

Julie calls me from the departure lounge. It’s about 1pm. I miss the call, but call back, oblivious to the missed messages, emails, photos, other calls and news. Only after our conversation - my mind still consumed with all my day’s work – do I realise what went on.

F**k!

In the lounge, the captain of the plane is still in there keeping people informed.

Julie and a work colleague take the opportunity for a quick work meeting… seriously!

While in the lounge they are also given food and drink and big yellow or orange stickers, depending on which class they are in.

Julie finally leaves the airport at 5pm. No-one gets to collect their main luggage - that will be on their new flight the next day.

Always something happening!

For more information about Pamela Wilson or WriteSmart, log on to http://www.writesmart.com.au/