Back in 2001, I had been surfing a point break in southern Baja for about 10 days. It was really fun, but I had to get home, so my buddy drove me to La Paz so I could catch a flight north.
It was an Aero California flight headed to Tijuana which is a hop skip and a jump to San Diego. As I was walking up the stairs to board the aircraft I was nearly knocked down by one of the pilots who was coming down the steps. Very odd...I then saw him do some work on the plane...hmm this was also strange...He seemed nervous, or maybe it was just me. The flight took off and I started to relax...I was heading home!
The flight was empty enough that the Mexican gentleman that had the window seat next to mine moved to a vacant row, leaving me with the window seat and an empty aisle seat on my right side. Very comfy as I have long legs. I ordered some apple juice…
For lunch I had chicken, bread and cake for dessert but skipped the salad. It was pretty good. They took the food trays away and I settled in to read an English language newspaper that I had purchased for 11 pesos in La Paz. I was feeling good!
All off the sudden I heard what sounded like a dozen champagne bottles being opened in rapid fire pop pop...pop pop pop pop pop….pop pop pop... I felt my ears pop, and the oxygen masks descended, and I quickly put mine on.
The jet went into a VERY rapid descent and the engines were wide open full bore….it was LOUD! All of the babies on the plane were crying and I felt the panic similar to being caught under some big set waves when you want to gasp for oxygen but you obviously can’t. I tried to stay calm. No oxygen was coming though the mask.
A gringa in front of me turned around and told me that their masks weren't working correctly. She was yelling, “My husband has a heart condition and can’t breathe! I yelled to them, "pull on it", meaning tug the cord...and handed them the extra one that was for the empty aisle seat next to me.
The woman looked for the stewardess who was nowhere in sight. I heard an announcement over the PA in Spanish which I did not fully understand but it was something about staying calm. I was freaking out!
I looked around and saw a few Mexican mothers with desperate looks trying to keep their ninos and themselves alive as they struggled with multiple oxygen masks. I saw someone in front of me accidently pull the mask off, separating it from its tube. I looked on the mask for instructions as I still could not get air, but there wasn’t any. I felt my finger tips go numb, and saw a picture in my mind of rescue workers finding my passport, and then contacting my family in the United States...I would never see them again, I honestly thought the plane was going to crash!I I tugged again on the cord, but there was nothing, no air!
I started crying and saw a summary of my life in my mind’s eye….this is it, I started to recite the Lord’s Prayer…”Our Father who art in heaven…”! This seemed to take about 15 or 20 minutes, but in reality it was probably only 3-5 minutes. I started to cough, but otherwise felt OK, but it made me feel kind of high and light headed as if drunk on Tequila. The conditions left me gasping for air, and made my finger tips tingle. A macho Mexican customer walked up and down the aisles calming people down in broken English, and he handed me a cold can of Modelo cerveza. He explained to me that the plane had decompressed and so the pilot had to go into a nose dive to get us down to 5,000 feet so that we would be able to breathe
The jet continued on at 5,000 feet for the rest of the flight and then landed into Tijuana. No one appeared to be hurt, but everyone seemed to be a little bit shaken up by this. No explanation or apology was offered to me. I noticed that the captain did not open the door while at the gate at Tijuana as I wanted to ask him what happened. I asked the Stewardess in my pigeon spanish as to what happened….they were in complete denial….No hay problema, todo esta bien, bla bla blah!
Several years later I was having breakfast at Denny’s. I was reading the LA Times and saw an article that the Mexican government had shut down Aero California for numerous safety violations….I laughed out Loud...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_California
Yikes! That sounds scary but glad you are ok. Also, glad they shut down that airline!!
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