Alive
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Last Monday night was the scariest time of my life.
I was on the last flight of Cebu Pacific from Bacolod to Manila. There was already some turbulence, although tolerable, enroute to Manila, but just as we were about to start descending, the pilot announced that they were advised by the tower to hold position at 5,000 ft because of bad weather condition. And this was when the nightmare really began.
We had to go around in circle for almost an hour, the plane rocking and shaking the whole time. I could hear the plane screeching, like what a car does when you step on the brake hard, and at one point, we saw another aircraft emerge on our side (which means it crossed below us).
I was crying, the girl beside me was sobbing, and an old woman at the back kept muttering "We're in God's hand now". I was also very hungry...which meant I was close to puking, and I was eyeing the paper bag just in case.
While I prayed and thought about my parents and Choak and what my friends were going to say about me when I'm gone, I was also deliberating if I should bond with my two seatmates (I was in the middle), because I didn't like them that much since the flight started - they didn't turn off their phones. I hate that, much as I hate it when passengers immediately turn on their phones as soon as the plane lands. Anywaaay, so I decided not to hold their hands, nor console the sobbing girl and just held on tight to my seatbelt instead.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity in hell, the pilot announced that we had to divert to Clark. It was still a little shaky going there, but we landed safely, and we all clapped.
We stayed in the plane for another hour - and did I say I was hungry? We weren't given anything to eat. Good thing I had my homemade beef tapa - but I had to stop myself from taking out the whole tupperware and laying it on the tray though. So I just resorted to making piknit and making small talk with my guy seatmate who kept shaking his legs.
At 9:45, we flew back to Manila.
And we're still here. I'm still here.
And maybe I'm just exaggerating about the whole incident. But whatever. It was really frightening.
I'm just thankful I'm still alive. :)
posted by vina @ 2:33 PM
4 Comments:
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At 1:22 AM, September 16, 2008,
Sharleen said...
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this is scary. glad to read about this...you're safe :)
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At 3:48 PM, September 16, 2008,
ajay said...
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Glad to know you're safe too. It's indeed scary when you're not in control of anything. I experienced something like this during my last HK trip aboard PAL,but lasted a minute lang....
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At 7:03 PM, September 19, 2008,
vina said...
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thanks!
so i guess kelangan ko nang mag bagong buhay! hehe. -
At 8:55 AM, October 02, 2008,
christinelovestotravel said...
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glad you're ok! that's a scary ride.
