Flight plan

Let’s pretend you are a member of a highly trained flight crew on a 767.

Like the crew handling an Americans Airline flight on April 20 from Dallas to Paris.

Shortly after take-off, a problem occurs. A BIG problem:

According to a flight attendant’s e-mail, “There was a loud shaking noise from the belly of the plane ... sounded like an explosion, or very large landing gear being ripped.”

According to the Associated Press, a spokesman for the airline confirmed that although “the crew was aware something had occurred, they were not sure what happened.”

If you were a member of this highly trained flight crew, in view of these ominous developments, would you:

A) Turn the plane around immediately and head for the nearest runway? or

B) Head out across the Atlantic Ocean on a nine-hour flight?

Now, I’m not a member of a highly trained flight crew, but if I’m on a plane that has just been shaken by a mysterious explosion … I WANNA BE ON THE GROUND A.S.A.P.

I do not want to soar out over an ocean WHERE THERE ARE NO RUNWAYS.

As you have guessed by now, the flight crew chose B) and headed for Gay Paree. They had a schedule to keep, after all.

Thank God they got there in one piece. The mini-explosion turned out to be from a panel covering an air conditioner that blew off.

That's nice, but they are lucky. This is no way to run a railroad, or an airline.

When a pilot hears and feels “a loud shaking noise from the belly of the plane,” that's a signal to get on the intercom and say, “Ladies and gentlemen, we regret to announce that we will be returning to Dallas for, uh, some unscheduled maintenance.”