I was completely mesmerized by the insane events in New York today, with the plane that ditched in the Hudson after BOTH ENGINES got knocked out by bird strikes and somehow managed to get every last person out alive.
I’ve been reading and reading and reading coverage, and I think I found one guy whose reaction is probably about what mine would have been in this situation (although I’d like to think I’m more aware of my surroundings than this guy admits he is) [emphasis mine]:
Beck, the marketing executive, said he had flown all over the world on business but never bothered to read the seat-pocket emergency cards. “I wasn’t sure what to do” as the plane fell from the air, he said later. “I tried a few different positions. I ended up putting my arms on the chair in front of me and covering my head and face. All I could think about was that movie ‘Airplane’ where they say, ‘Assume crash positions,’ and everybody lays on the ground.”
I would have been thinking of the exact same thing. Either that or “FUUUUUUUUUUUCK!”
They didn’t just lay on the ground! Some lay on top of the seats, some sprawled across a couple seats, others just flailed wildly. That guy gets major points for the reference, and then loses most of them for getting the reference wrong.