[Fair Use: For Education and Research Purpose Only]

Passenger says flight like living scary movie

(From Polkonline.com - Feb. 15)

CLEARWATER -- A cabin door in the rear of a commercial passenger plane wouldn't close tight and as the aircraft climbed, air blew in through a 3-inch gap at the bottom, according to passengers.

One man aboard American Trans Air's Flight 534 Sunday from Fort Myers to Chicago said the wind made his hair stand on end. It made another shout for the pilot. Meantime, napkins were blowing about the cabin.

''It was like in an 'Airplane' movie,' said passenger Bruce Waters, 43.

The Boeing 727 landed safely 150 miles after takeoff -- far short of its destination. After a two-hour delay, passengers said the problem was corrected and they were back en route, this time with the cabin door secured.

Waters and his wife, Judith, were anxious to get back to Mount Prospect, Ill., and requested seats in the back. When they settled into 30D and 30E, they didn't know what a hair-raising experience it would be -- literally.

They said they mentioned the gap to a flight attendant who said the door would close when they got up in the air. The Waters said it didn't.

They said attendants stuffed wet napkins in the crevice and said they would freeze and hold the door shut.

About 20 minutes into the flight, with the plane at about 10,000 feet, a flight attendant said the aircraft would be landing at the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport because of problems with the door.

ATA spokeswoman Mary Moses Cochran said there never was imminent danger. She said the cabin air pressure was adjusting, as it is supposed to do. The napkins, she said, apparently prevented the door from being shut tight.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.

http://www.polkonline.com/stories/021500/sta_movie-flght.shtml

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 17, 2000

Answers

I can hear the attendants now..."Hey! Any one have some bailing wire"! Man! I do not thnk that the current happening, incidents ect. Are the way to go for an advertising campaign LOL

"As for me...I shall finish the Game"! And be sure to stay on the ground doing it!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Shakey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-- Shakey (in_a_bunker@forty.feet), February 17, 2000.

"American Trans Air" is the name that "ValueJet" changed to after the accident with those oxygen cannisters. As said after the crash, there might be some maintainance problems with discount airlines. It looks like it still exists atleast with this discount airline.

-- ned (ned@nednet.com), February 17, 2000.

Where's that roll of Duct Tape when you need it????

BTW, ValueJet became AirTran, a different company, I believe. This airline is a regional connector for American Airlines.

-- Duke1983 (Duke1983@aol.com), February 17, 2000.

"...They said they mentioned the gap to a flight attendant who said the door would close when they got up in the air. The Waters said it didn't. They said attendants stuffed wet napkins in the crevice and said they would freeze and hold the door shut...."

Unbelievable. Truly unbelievable. Are Valujet flight attendants really taught to seal doors in pressurized fuselages with wet napkins? I would have been screaming bloody murder at the top of my lungs.

As though anyone had to be reminded to avoid this airline, no matter what name they give themselves.

--Andre in southcentral Pennsylvania

-- Andre Weltman (72320.1066@compuserve.com), February 17, 2000.

American TransAir is NOT Valujet.

-- Sheri (wncy2k@nccn.net), February 17, 2000.

Ai rline Name Change Needs Support in Image Makeover

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but what about an airline whose image was damaged by a tragic plane crash?

When low-fare airline ValuJet decided to buy a small Orlando-based airline, AirTran Airlines, last July, ValuJet took on AirTran's fleet of 10 planes as well as its name.

ValuJet received a barrage of negative publicity following the death of all 105 passengers and five crew members when Flight 592, a DC-9 aircraft, crashed in the Florida Everglades on May 11, 1996. The ValuJet fleet was subsequently grounded for four months during investigations by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board. Industry rumors that Valujet was finished were rife. Officials of the beleaguered airline knew that something needed to be done.

Now, Atlanta-based AirTran Airlines owns all of both airlines' fleets but uses only AirTran's name and rising-sun logo...

-- DeeEmBee (macbeth1@pacbell.net), February 17, 2000.

TP rolls would have worked better than napkins. Quick, raid the lavatory!

-- dinosaur (dinosaur@williams-net.com), February 17, 2000.

Thank you for the information DeeEmBee!

Dinosaur, you are right...TP rolls would have worked better and some of that duct tape, like Duke said...maybe a few bags of peanuts too. LOL

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 17, 2000.