Surprises in the sky
What are the odds of someone experiencing two emergency landings in one week? The likelihood is remote. But it happened to me this past summer.
The first unplanned landing resulted from toilet trouble. The second diversion was due to a medical emergency. Both incidents happened to me in July on flights to and from a consultants’ conference in Dallas.
But for context, let me give you some background about my time in the air. My travels, mostly business related, have taken me to 51 countries and 46 states. My air miles logged to date exceed the 1.5 million mark.
Frequent flyers often endure experiences of varying sorts. Mine are plentiful. They ranged from seeing a passenger on a flight from Athens to Kuwait frying food on a batteryoperated skillet to my having an outbreak of shingles in Australia and being essentially quarantined in the back of a 747 aircraft on the trip from Sydney to Los Angeles.
Another notable one on the ground was at a Third World country’s airport during the hijacking era of the 1970s. Before taking off everyone’s luggage was plopped in a pile alongside the plane. We each had to identify our baggage before boarding. My guess is that airline’s promotional material lacked any reference to their ontime performance.
As to my trip to Dallas, I told a flight attendant of a flushing problem in one of their bathrooms. An out of order sign was posted on that facility’s door.
About 15 minutes later we learned the aircraft had a malfunctioning water system problem. All the bathrooms were now off limits. Our plane was diverted to Memphis. A few passengers yelled out colorful punchlines characterizing the flight.
In all my travels a bathroom malfunction had never occurred before. At the Memphis airport we later heard that no crew member had ever been on a flight with such a breakdown. As we waited the gags about the “toilet trouble” flight continued. After a twohour stopover a second plane finally flew us to Dallas.
On my return flight to NYC, five days later, yet another emergency, this one medical. Over the PA system the pilot asked if there was a doctor onboard. Soon four physicians gathered around the ill passenger. She was sitting 10 rows ahead of me. A second announcement followed, “Does anyone have aspirins with them?”
Because of my past medical issues, I assumed the passenger’s problem was heart related. I knew how helpful aspirin could be in treating heart attacks. Better than aspirin are nitroglycerin tablets. Which I always carry with me. I told a flight attendant I had them. Nothing happened. Perhaps I wasn’t specific enough.
One of the doctors came by on her way to the back galley. I told her about the nitroglycerin. Shortly afterward she returned and asked me for them. Later the flight attendant said to me, “The lady is stable now.”
We were alerted that the plane would make a rapid descent to the airport in Baltimore. And that there was no danger. Immediately after landing a rescue team came onboard and carried the woman off the plane. I was told she was 44 years old.
Later, at the passenger car pickup area at New York City’s LaGuardia airport, I saw the doctor who had administered the nitroglycerin. We spoke briefly. She was a surgeon at a hospital in Brooklyn. Her Uber driver came, and we parted. Typically, I ask many questions. I didn’t even ask her name.
A young man at the pickup stand overheard my conversation with the doctor. He had sat behind me on the plane. He said, “You saved her life.” Perhaps.
I don’t know what happened to her. I wish I did. What I do believe is that our lives may have intersected fortuitously for both of us.
The sensation I felt after being told the passenger’s condition had been stabilized is difficult to describe. It was as if one moment you’re flying as you have flown so often before. There is nothing unusual about this flight. Suddenly there is an announcement about an emergency.
The drama unfolds. When it’s over, your eyes get watery and you ask yourself if you have helped save a life. And then, all that is inside of you feels at rest and warm, from the top to the bottom of your body.