Pilots Reveal the Terrifying Things
A pilot goes through a rigorous training process before being allowed to fly commercially, but even then their mettle can be well and truly tested.
One Reddit user asked pilots, “What is the scariest moment of your career that passengers may have been oblivious to?” — and the results may change your feelings toward flying forever.
While it may be chaos in the cockpit — from unconscious pilots to toxic fumes — passengers almost always remain blind to the drama ensuing up front.
A complete loss of all electrical power
The pilot of an Airbus 320 recalled the time his aircraft lost all electrical power mid-descent at 23,000 feet.
The emergency lighting, the standby instruments, and all screens went dark, despite the plane being equipped with three backup generators.
In his Reddit answer, he gave a terrifying analogy:
Imagine driving at 100 km/hr on a highway and suddenly all your windows are covered up, you lose your speedometer and all electrical systems, there’s no response from the brake or accelerator. But you can still feel the car going.
Toxic fumes contaminating the cockpit
According to a report in The Guardian, it’s not uncommon for toxic fumes to seep into the cockpit. Many pilots have flown crowded commercial aircraft while overcoming with feelings of nausea and dizziness, often left unable to communicate effectively with their copilots and air-traffic control.
In severe cases, cabin crew has been hospitalised and pilots have had to use oxygen supplies, but the passengers are never told what is happening.
Unconscious pilotsIt was probably much scarier than it was in the movies.
Turbulence is not a threat to the aircraft, but that doesn’t mean passengers and pilots don’t get injured. While flying through a patch of severe turbulence, a pilot of 12 years was knocked unconscious by his copilot’s elbow.
Thankfully, the copilot managed to keep everything under control until he woke up minutes later. Had the passengers known that their pilot was unconscious at the helm, it probably wouldn’t have gone so smoothly.
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