Taken from http://www.gironet.nl/home/rvermaas
The implementation of MFG/PRO in the factory of Rouen is a continuous and exciting adventure. Because our IT department seems to have a mobility problem I was asked to tell you this story to get more people enthusiastic to work abroad and travel by plane...
...The first unusual thing that happened on November 19, 1996 was that my train arrived on time at Schiphol airport. So there was more time than usual to get to the gate.
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The airplane to Le Havre is a small plane with 2 propellers, 19 seats and no stewardesses. This type of airplane is called Jetstream 31. Sitting in the bus to the airplane we heard that it was delayed for an hour. On the way back finding my coat on a seat in the terminal, I realized that without this delay I would have lost it. This caused my mood to be good in spite of the delay. The second hour of delay even resulted in a free drink, so why complaining! Finally the four passengers, 2 French an Englishman and I, and the two pilots boarded and left Schiphol airport under us. After about half an hour there was a nice view over Antwerp and I was thinking that flying, although boring most of the time, can be exciting too. This thought caused one of the two engines to stop abruptly and the plane to move in a downward direction. |
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People tell me that in such cases your whole life goes by in a flash, which seems interesting. Probably because of the size my life, no flash appeared. Instead I was thinking of the example I would be for the rest of the Lucent employees: "so obsessed by his customer that he risked his own life and...". My thoughts were disturbed by one of the pilots who said something in French in which I discovered the words Morte Subite. But since I had no dictionary I did not know what he was talking about. Later they told me he probably wanted to have a beer. From the French lady I learned that we were going to make an emergency landing in Brussels in about 15 minutes.
So only 15 minutes to define the strategy for being regarded as the hero of the plane, to make a statement for the press conference and to make the notes for an interview with Maartje van Weegen in Nova! Looking at my competitor heroes, the Englishman studying the emergency card for already 10 minutes seemed to be a serious obstacle. Actually he was sitting in the perfect seat for heroes, just next to the emergency exit. So I decided to concentrate on my speech for the press which had to express my cool attitude. If they asked me what worried me most I would answer "the fact that my customer has lost a day waiting for me".
Just as I was wondering what price they would pay you for being present in a talk show the pilot started the landing. The fire brigade of the airport had sent all their cars to support our landing. Seeing all these fireman with their cars made me wonder where I could find the lifejackets since getting drowned seemed more realistic than getting burned. But both options where invalid and the landing was relatively smooth.
Still a bit disappointed for no press being present, we were invited for a free lunch on the airport. Partly free I should say because when I handed over the ticked for this lunch to the cashier it became clear that my appetite was too big and I had to pay part of the lunch out of my own pocket. I wonder why the Belgians make yokes about the Dutch avarice.
During the lunch we evaluated our adventure and got to know each other better (the French are disappointed that Dutch tourism is decreasing ever since the nuclear tests in the Pacific, but they assured me the radiation would never reach France so there was no reason to avoid the country).
After the lunch the good news was that we could fly to Le Havre, the bad news was that it was with the same plane. This time the flight was without problems and I arrived at 7 o’clock in the evening in my hotel exactly 12 hours after my departure from home.
Three days later on the way back I had the same airplane and felt more secure than ever before knowing that with 2 engines running there is one spare. So if you ever enter a Jetstream 31 with a huge sweat spot on the chair just behind the wing on the right you will know this plane has proved to be able to fly on one engine only...
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