Monday 8 April 2013

The Time I Saw a Plane Crash

I was on a plane on my way to Japan, and I had a seat next to a little kid, he couldn't have been more than three years old. The hostesses came around handing out hot towels and headphones and stuff, and for all the little kids, they had plush Japan Airlines planes. Little soft toys that resembled the plane we were flying in.

So the hostess hands one of these little planes to the kid next to me and he starts playing with it while I put my bag away and buckle myself in.

It wasn't long before we started taxiing out; and I noticed this kid put the plane down on the tray table in front of him, and he started to "drive" the plane along the tray table like it was being taxied out. And as we got to the runway; he started making little engine noises, and started dragging his plane along the table faster and faster,  like he was actually controlling the plane we were in. It was very cute.

I couldn't help but watch as his plane slowly came off the tray table as I felt our plane come off the ground. He'd clearly been on a lot of flights before, he was so calm, completely focused on his little plane. All his movements were so precise, he was perfectly timed with everything the plane did. It was mesmerising to watch.

Anyway, we were getting higher and higher, and so was his plane, until it was nearly as high as his head. His engine noises got louder and louder, until he was practically roaring, with the plane high above his head.

Then completely out of the blue; he brought his hand down as fast as possible and smashed the plane straight into the tray table, making explosion sounds that could be heard by just about everyone in the plane it seemed.


I'll tell you what, that kid made me jump. Watching him gently fly his little plane around, exactly like the one we were in, and then violently crash the plane and kill everyone on board, I was not ready for the sudden turn of events. To be honest, it took me a moment to recover from that.

I sure hope that kid doesn't one day become a pilot.

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