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Page 11
Campus Review
November 13, 2013
The airplane is shaking harder; it feels
like it is banking toward left side. I hear
exclamation. People are controlling them-
selves, but their measured cries of fear are
still horrid. We are circling.
Flight attendant speaks over intercom
again.
- We are about to perform an emergency
landing, the captain is trying hard to con-
trol the situation.
Are we going to land in the open desert?
On the dirt? What if plane catches fire or
the cabin falls apart? I am holding to the
back of the seat in front of me and am
thinking of Baba. He died in an airplane
crash, the cockpit was crushed and he was
thrown out to hit the ground, he died of
impact. This might be the second death in
an airplane crash in the family. I feel
ashamed.
- Baba, I know I was not what you want-
ed. Please put a good word for me.
Jervis’s son starts to cry.
- It will be OK.
I look at him
- Breathe, breathe like this.
I start to breathe deeply, gasping for air.
He starts to breath like that. He calms
down.
- We have lost one engine. The captain is
trying to control the airplane. It can fly
with one engine. We are heading to an air-
port. We will land in an airport. Go to
brace position when we land.
Well, the desert landing is out. I feel bet-
ter. Can we make it to an airport on one
engine? What if the airplane is too heavy?
What if it catches fire? The airplane is
shaking.
- We are heading back to DFW airport we
will be landing in 10 minutes.
I look around again for the exit -- behind
me or in front of me? What should I take
with me? Laptop, camera? All seem to be
insignificant now. I grab my iPhone and
push it down my back pocket. I have my
wallet. I think, whom I should call when
we land? If something goes wrong who
will tell mom about this? She does not
even know I am here. What a stupid
lifestyle I have. If I survive this I will tell
her everything, the truth and only the
truth.
The pilot is speaking now:
- We have lost an engine and we are about
to land in DFW in 10 minutes. Do not
worry this airplane can fly on one engine.
It is a good sign. He is talking to us. The
situation must be under control. Ten min-
utes to DFW. I look outside, clouds are
everywhere. How far from airport are we?
The airplane is shaking. It is airborne and
it is flying through the clouds. I do not see
the sun; I do not see the earth. This is my
twilight zone, somewhere between heav-
en and earth. We are flying, where is the
airport? The clouds are too low; it will
take some time to get out of them. I am
thinking, “what is happening here?” This
is too surreal. The Eastern European girl
is crying. Jervis is calm. The guy in front
of me in front row is traveling with his
daughter. She must be four years old. He
is holding her tight. He is sweating. How
long 10 minutes can be. We can’t do any-
thing else. People are holding hands,
some are praying and some are already
bracing. ….
Finally we are out of clouds. I look down;
I see the city, the highways. The landing
gear is down.
- Landing gear is down we are going to
land on runway, go to brace position!
What if we blow a tire?
We are in the final approach. Airplane is
shaking but it is stable, closer, closer,
closer…. We touch down. The fire trucks
are waiting for us. The airplane slows
down and stops. It stops to shake. Are we
on fire? People are clapping.
- Do not forget who was looking out for
us, says the black lady who was praying
hard all the time.
People start to call love ones. Some are
calm, some are crying, some are emotion-
al.
- They are checking the aircraft. If every-
thing is OK then we will go to the gate
and deplane as usual.
Firefighters are walking around the air-
plane. Three of them get together under
the wing. It seems to be OK. They are
calm. We did a clean landing. What if they
miss something? I look at Jervis, he
smiles:
- Man, I was scared!
I respect his dignity. He did not show how
scared he was. Now we have landed, it is
safe to admit it.
- Me too! I say
They start to tow us toward the gate. The
final stop is here. Flight attendant comes
over the intercom:
- We are about to deplane as we do usual-
ly. If you choose to change your flight
please let them know they will bring
down your luggage. They are waiting for
you at the gate to answer your questions.
We are in the same boat as you are and we
do not know much about what happens
next.
It is over. We are safe.
As we deplane I see ground crew they are
talking. We have survived, it was not our
time. Not yet at least. Should I rent a car?
The sun is setting on Dallas. We are
boarding the substitute plane. Some peo-
ple have decided to stay, some might fly
another day. Most of us are here. We are
to get to Atlanta tonight. Life continues,
as always with death breathing on the
back of our necks. Today it did puff a bit
harder than usual. I say a little prayer and
hand over my boarding pass. Life contin-
ues. It was not my time….May be it is
time to go back to Texas though.
Dr. Ali Dadpay
Assistant Dean, Director of the
MBA program, and Assistant Professor of
Economics
Flight 165, cont’d. from p. 10