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#237046 by mitchja
26 Jul 2005, 08:50
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Hmmmmmmmm this was a very interesting flight to say the least.......

Check-in and Chill Out

This was the only real option for checking in. I'd filled in and handed the check-in and chill out info a few days before. VS staff arrived at the Radisson at 10:00am on the 25th. I handed over my passport and ticket and my Upper Class boarding card was presented to me. My luggage was tagged and secured ready to be taken to the airport. I was told pick would be 14:00. 14:55 and the bus finally arrives to take us to the airport.

Airport
NAS airport is a typical Caribbean airport with not very much to do at all. There's absolutley no signs anywhere so once we left the bus we all walked backwards and forwards looking for the security and departure area. Quite a small VS check-in area with just 4 desks in total. Once found I went though a very un-organised security check point with the usual x-ray and scanner. Shoes had to be removed [:(!] and my lap-top also had to be scanned seperately. Found the very small but acceptable lounge (again not marked at all!!) Only just managed to drink a can of coke before the flight was called at 15:45 for a 16:30 departure. Headed to the A/C (G-VROM) and found my seat 8A.

Flight
Usual pre-flight drinks were served. UC was completly full. Unusually an accouncment was given out that there were 279 pax on board todays flight. Pulled back at 16:35 and departed at 16:45 local time. 30 mins into the flight and the fun started..........

.......seat belt signs were switched off after approx 15 mins and Nova was started. It started to get a bit bumpy, then even more bumpy so the seat belt signs were put on.....even more bumpy then the crew were asked to take the nearest jump seats ASAP and wham......we suddenly dropped several thousand feet and anything not fastened down suddenly jumped into the air several feet, including the entire UC bar contents. An Upper Class crew member was unfortunatley just finishing setting up the bar and as we dropped, she also left the floor and hit the the deck pretty hard as well (though after speaking to her afterwards they are trained to get down on the floor in severe turbalance.) She was OK and managed to get up and crawl to the nearest jump seat. The entire bar contents ended up all over the UC cabin, glasses bottles and everything else. There was then an annoucement asking for medical staff. The lady in front of me got up (she was a nurse) and she was needed in economy. It turned out as we dropped, some of the oxygen masked dropped down in the back and a pax hit his head on the panel cutting his head pretty badly. Several other pax were also injured. It was touch and go if we were to turn round or divert to MIA. It was decided we would carry on.

Obviously the cabin service was suspended and shortly afterwards the first officer came down and went round and spoke to everybody seperatley regarding what had just happened explaining exactly what had happened and the fact they did not see anything on the radar. He and all the crew said this was the worst incident of turbalence they had ever experienced. The poor First officer was actually in the washroom at the time (apparently the worst possilbe place to be when you hit turbalence) He was OK as were all the crew, although some of them hit there heads on the over-head lockers during the incident. Another Y pax cut hit nose but he was OK to carry on flying.

The UC cabin and bar area was cleaned up and the cabin service resumed. I am just so thankful I had my seat belt on at the time (as did all the other UC pax).

So when you are asked to put your selt belt on....do it [;)]

The rest of the flight was pretty un-eventful and my seat belt remained on and tight the entire flight. We hit some minor turbalance several times in flight and the seat belt sign was put on straight away.

The crew were fantastic in re-assuring everybody and getting things back to normal as quickly as possible. [:)]

A couple of the seats were playing up but there was a VS engineer flying in UC so he was able to sort them all out.

On landing, paramedics were waiting to take the 2 pax to hospital who had cuts to their head and nose.

Has this put me off flying.....absolutley not [:)] These things happen.


Regards
#305862 by iforres1
26 Jul 2005, 09:10
[:0][:0][B)]

Jaysus James,

Just glad to hear that everybody was relatively ok. The bottle of Jameson would never have left my side if that happened to me.

lessons #1 Put your belt on when told[y]

all the best
Iain
#305864 by Decker
26 Jul 2005, 09:17
Wow! Eventful! Thanks for that - hopefully everybody was sensible enough to have been belted in. Welcome home [:)]
#305865 by AlanA
26 Jul 2005, 09:17
ah! the joys of CAT Clear Air Turbulance.

this is why (and I still do) we were trained in the RAF to ALWAYS wear your seat belt when seated, it does not have to be tight, a little free air movement is fun, but you never know when its going to turn up.
#305868 by shazam
26 Jul 2005, 09:31
Jeez!

Glad you were ok and as has been said...that's why we should keep our seatbealts on.


Shaz
#305877 by HighFlyer
26 Jul 2005, 10:31
Thats one scary flight, glad everybody was ok and that the crew did a sterling job!

Know what you mean about NAS airport, was there last year [:D] although we didnt have to remove our shoes. If anything i found their security to be very relaxed. I set the metal detector off, the guy looked me up and down and then just smiled and waved me through!! Maybe they have been told to tighten up since!

Nice to hear a NAS report too ... [:D]
#305898 by lynnewob
26 Jul 2005, 12:14
Oh wow - what an eventful flight.

It's surprising more people weren't injured in the circumstances.

I've had this before on a very short flight back from Menorca and it was just like riding a roller coaster for about 30 minutes - not fun and there were so many people being ill it was horrible. Obviously at the end of this flight, there were quite a few meals left over which my husband then decided to have an extra - as you can tell, we've both got very strong stomachs but still, not much fun.
#305903 by seany
26 Jul 2005, 13:45
[:0]

I'm glad you are OK James. Did the captain say it was just clear air turbulence? It sounds more like a jetstream to me. Anyway I don't think my seatbelt will be coming off in a plane anytime soon [:I].
#305904 by mitchja
26 Jul 2005, 13:59
Sean

I didn't hear anything specific mentioned as to the cause.

Regards
#305907 by honey lamb
26 Jul 2005, 14:46
Wow! That was some experience! [:0]

I always keep my seatbelt on and that shows a good enough reason why we should.
#305911 by slinky09
26 Jul 2005, 14:52
Woweee ... yes belt up! Had you finished the climb by then, I should think 15 mins out the plane would be in its second phase? Thankfully at that stage in a flight my temazapam is still working so I'm safely tucked up in my seat [:)]
#305914 by mitchja
26 Jul 2005, 15:00
Slinky

I've no idea, but I think we were still climbing. I'd say it happened approx 20-25 mins after we took off.

Regards
#305944 by DWiles
26 Jul 2005, 18:37
Something to tell the Grandchildren ...

Glad to know you were unharmed by the experience

a mundane question..

You mention Check-in and Chill Out

I was unaware this was availble in Bahamas... VH don't mention it and VA is fairly vague . How did you find out about it and have you any idea which other hotels participate?
#305946 by mitchja
26 Jul 2005, 18:46
Duncan

When I received my welcome envelope form VH on my arrival, the check-in and chill-out forms where in there. A few days in to my holiday I went to see the VH rep regarding pick-times for the return flight etc, where I was told that check-in and chill out is the prefered option for VH pax and the form was filled in there and then.

Having not used check-in and chill out before, at that time I was not aware you can also check your luggage through LGW if required as long as you fill in all the flight numbers on the forms.

It seems the only thing you dont get with check-in and chill out is one of those red security stickers on your passport [:(] Everything else is exactly the same.

Regards
#305956 by Dave Adkins
26 Jul 2005, 19:52
Welcome back glad to see it hasn't put you off flying[:D] The injuries made the london news they said 4 pax were taken to hospital.
#305973 by DWiles
26 Jul 2005, 22:30
Originally posted by mitchja
Duncan

When I received my welcome envelope form VH on my arrival, the check-in and chill-out forms where in there. A few days in to my holiday I went to see the VH rep regarding pick-times for the return flight etc, where I was told that check-in and chill out is the prefered option for VH pax and the form was filled in there and then.

Having not used check-in and chill out before, at that time I was not aware you can also check your luggage through LGW if required as long as you fill in all the flight numbers on the forms.

It seems the only thing you dont get with check-in and chill out is one of those red security stickers on your passport [:(] Everything else is exactly the same.

Regards


Thanks[:)]
#305979 by Scrooge
26 Jul 2005, 23:40
Glad your ok,having been through two of those I wouldn't like to do a third.
#305985 by onionz
27 Jul 2005, 00:12
Well that's a pretty eventful flight for the first NAS-LGW TR!

That must have been pretty terrifying for a few moments there - what were you thinking while it was happening and things (and people) were leaping into the air?

Hope no-one got seriously injured. You have to wonder what happened to babies in skycots etc...
#305987 by mitchja
27 Jul 2005, 00:28
I wasn't thinking the worst by a long way. I know I didn't think we would fall out of the sky. I honestly dont know what I was thinking as it happened so quick. My initial concern was for the cew member who hit the deck. I think the seat belt sign had been on for a few minutes before it happened but immediatly after it happened there was an announcment for pax to sit down straight away, so clearly there were people standing up at the time.

Everyone in J was buckled up throughout though.

Regards
#306050 by ChuckC
27 Jul 2005, 15:40
James,
Been away several days and am just now reading your amazing TR.

Wow! Very relieved to learn that everyone is okay. Sounds as though the crew performed admirably.

Best regards,
Chuck-
#306052 by stevendq
27 Jul 2005, 16:09
Is this the same flight they are all talking about on airliners?

http://www.airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/read.main/2238991/

Turbulence doesnt bother me that much, its only the sudden drops that can sometime be a little erm 'uncomfortable'. I had a flight out of vegas last year that has quite a few of them because of all the hot air, no where near as bad as this though.

Coming back from Washington earlier in the year the crew jumped into a 'service suspended, tidying up quickly because of reported turbulence'. It set a few passengers up to be quite scared but never really amounted to much.
#306179 by mitchja
28 Jul 2005, 11:59
Just received an un-prompted letter of apology from VS regarding this flight.

The letter also states that the the pax taken to hospital on arrival into LGW have all now been discharged [:)]

Regards
#306372 by daisy
29 Jul 2005, 16:08
Wow - exciting stuff [:p] Glad everyone was OK. I find a 'moderate skinful' always helps with turbulence...

I know when this happens (only once for me on approach to Glasgow of all places) that the plane really does feel like its falling thousands of feet in seconds - but does it really? Do you really lose a few 1000 ft in severe turbulence or is the feeling misleading and you only drop a little way (if at all)[?]

Just curious...[:)]
#306374 by preiffer
29 Jul 2005, 16:59
Originally posted by daisy
I know when this happens (only once for me on approach to Glasgow of all places) that the plane really does feel like its falling thousands of feet in seconds - but does it really? Do you really lose a few 1000 ft in severe turbulence or is the feeling misleading and you only drop a little way (if at all)[?]
Typically, the changes during extremely 'severe' periods of turbulence are about +/- 4-5000fpm (feet per minute). So, if you have a drop that lasts say, 4 seconds (which actually feels like an eternity when dropping) then you've only actually fallen around 300 ft. (ONLY! [;)] )

Even if the plane entered 'freefall' - ie: 120mph straight down (something which is highly unlikely as long as it has it's wings attached), it's still only dropping at just over 10,000fpm. (so 666ft in that 4 second eternity).


Not suggesting for a moment that it's not scary while it's happening though [:0]


{By the way - this chart might be useful: It's how the FAA Classify each type of turbulence}

TURBULENCE REPORTING CRITERIA

LIGHT:
Light Turbulence: Turbulence that momentarily causes slight, erratic changes in altitude and/or attitude (pitch, roll, yaw). Report as Light Turbulence.
Light Chop: Turbulence that causes slight, rapid and somewhat rhythmic bumpiness without appreciable changes in altitude or attitude. Report as Light Chop.

MODERATE:
Moderate Turbulence: Turbulence that is similar to Light Turbulence but of greater intensity. Changes in altitude and/or attitude occur but the aircraft remains in positive control at all times. It usually causes variations in indicated airspeed. Report as Moderate Turbulence.
Moderate Chop: Turbulence that causes rapid bumps or jolts without appreciable changes in aircraft altitude or attitude. Report as Moderate Chop.

SEVERE: Turbulence that causes large, abrupt changes in altitude or attitude. It usually causes large variations in indicated airspeed. Aircraft may be momentarily our of control. Report as Severe Turbulence.

EXTREME: Turbulence in which the aircraft is violently tossed about and is practically impossible to control. It may cause structural damage or injury. Report as Extreme Turbulence.

By the sound of it - this was severe. I never want to be in extreme [;)][:0]
#306375 by daisy
29 Jul 2005, 17:48
That's interesting - thanks! I didn't think you could 'drop' thousands of feet in a few seconds.

(although 'aircraft may be momentarily out of control'.....[:0][:0][xx(])
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