≡ Click to see image ≡

A similar incident happened at Burbank Airport in the LA area a few years ago.

Except it came to rest a few feet from a gas station. The nose of the plane was just a few feet from a pump, partially underneath the canopy of the gas station. (The front gear had collapsed.)

I have a friend who volunteers for the Red Cross and happened to be in the area when the alert went out on their emergency alert text pager network, so he drove up to the scene in a matter of minutes.

He gets there and everything is under control and as mellow as something like this can possibly be, except for one important detail: A bunch of passengers listed on the manifest were completely missing and unaccounted for.

He thought about it for a few seconds, then said "Did you guys check the local bars? That's where I'd be!"

Sure enough, there were about a dozen passengers that had walked to the nearest bar for a stiff drink or three as soon as they got off the emergency exit slides.

It's funny how people are. My one exciting air-travel story was a bomb threat and we were diverted to DFW. Landed out in the middle of nowhere, emergency vehicles. They didn't make us do the slides, though. We used one of those staircases. Anyway, I wasn't particularly scared and found the whole incident fascinating. But as we exited the plane and got a good distance away from it, I noticed a number of people crying and being very scared.

Then the airline put us in a VIP room for an hour and didn't offer us any drinks but a few people just went behind the bar and made their own.

On Greek passenger planes, upon a successful landing, all the passengers applaud.... which amuses me very much - for the inherent pessimism suggested by the response, if nothing else.

(nothing to do with Greek pilots, btw, who are supposed to be among the best in the world... but just, you know, life... and how it always goes wrong, and you, the little man, always get shafted. Or burned to a crisp in firey ball. You know - the usual.)

It's insane how airports are allowed to stretch out to populated areas and/or vice-versa. It's asking for trouble if you ask me. Not that anyone did...

I've been on Canuck airplanes where the passengers applauded the landing. Mostly because it was a very sketchy landing, and for a few moments we were all reasonably convinced that we were going to die.

I didn't applaud. I thought it was more appropriate for us to all "boo!" the pilot for his cockups.

Midway wasn't populated when it was built. It got surrounded by the city.

They've actually done a good job creating a buffer zone -- there used to be buildings across the street, now almost all properties are commercial, open space, or parking. This could have been much worse.

a "hard" landing does not mean a dangerous one, necessarily; indeed, in some conditions, it is better to come down hard and fast and make solid contact, rather than risking spending more time lower over the runway.
civilian pilots are, by and large, incredibly competent women and men.