Came across this photo while my grandson was surfing the net for different types of airplane and it reminded me of a frightful experience years ago which made me think was going to be the end of my life.
At that time, my daughter who was employed by an american company had to tour the towns and cities of Mindanao ( an island in the south of the Philippines) as part of her job. Since I haven't seen these places myself, I decided to join her. It was a respite I have been longing for and I was excited. The first stretch of our travel was really an enjoyable one. The second round was when she had to go that very day to General Santos City which was a hundred miles away and the fastest way to get there was by plane. Unfortunately there were no flights available except with an inter-island airline. She was the one making all the arrangements so I did not get to see what type of aircraft we were taking. It was only when we got inside the terminal that I saw a 10 seater Beechcraft plane. I have been used to riding jumbo jets so this made me very anxious. I tried convincing her that we take a bus instead but was told that the ride will take 4 hours. This was not a good alternative because she wouldn't be able to reach her destination in time for the meeting.
While on the plane, I busied myself praying the rosary while my daughter was talking to her seatmate. More than an hour later, my seatmate noticed that we have been circling the area where we were supposed to land. After announcing it to the rest of the 9 passengers, my daughter went to the cockpit and saw the pilots trying to manipulate the landing gear with their hands. It was then that she was told that it got stuck and they were contemplating on gliding down the runway after we have consumed all the gasoline.
Upon learning this, we looked out the window, and we could see lots of firetrucks below. That very moment, I felt like vomiting and my chest was pounding so hard that I could hardly breathe. I could hear the siren of all the fire engines and I was expecting the plane to land hard on the runway causing it to explode or to catch fire. I closed my eyes and started praying hard again and by the time I was through, the plane stopped. The pilot came out and was apologizing to all of us. My daughter had to help me up because I could not get myself to move at all. As soon as we got down the plane, I stood in the tarmac to deeply inhale the fresh air that welcomed us but my knees were still shaking until I got to the car. It was only when we got to the hotel that I was able to recover from the shock. The memory of this flight has created a deep trauma for small planes to the point that I had refused many invitations to go to beautiful resorts in the Visayas and Palawan (islands south of where I live).
How about you? Have you any frightful experience to share?
