Couple’s jet horror

Press, 1 June 1989, Page 9

Couple’s jet horror

By

BARRY CLARKE

Mr Errol Spicer and Mrs Joy Spicer have returned home from a three-week holiday in the United States, their nerves shattered and feeling 10 years the worse for wear. The middle-aged Christchurch couple were among the 330-odd passengers thrown into panic on board an Air New Zealand Boeing 747 which swerved to miss a light plane near Los Angeles early last month. “It took 10 years off my life. I’ll be reluctant to go on an aeroplane for another three or four years,” said Mr Spicer yesterday. Twenty minutes out from Los Angeles on May 8 the 747 banked sharply to avoid the two-engine plane, believed to be a Cessna. The smaller plane

took evasive action. One passenger and a crew member aboard the jet, both male, suffered minor arm injuries. “We dropped 6000 feet in two minutes, we were told later. It was terrible. Everybody was screaming. That’s all I remember; the screaming,” said Mr Spicer. “I was screaming. My wife was hysterical. My eyes were watering. I had my safety belt on but it felt like someone was trying to force me out of my seat. There was so much pressure. It’s something I’ll never, ever be able to forget.” Mr Spicer said most passengers were strapped in their seats, which prevented more injuries. “Obviously we had no warning it was going to happen. The people hurt

were the crew member, who wasn’t sitting down and a passenger who either was standing up or wasn’t wearing a safety belt.”

Mr Spicer said the pilot of the 747 handled the situation well.

“We were told the light plane was about 500 yards in front of him. After the pilot said he was very, very sorry, but he had to take the action. It was one of those things; should he stay on the same course or take action. I’m glad he did.”

The Spicers were faced with seven other flights during the three-week holiday before landing safely back in Christchurch.

“Every time we went back up again, that flight was on our minds,” Mr Spicer said.