The sequence emergecy landings of Quantas' A380 and B747-400 reminded me of what I had experienced several months ago on a A380 flight between Paris-Dubai.
Our flight was cursing at over 10000m about an hour after we took off. The crews were preparing for meal service, but I suddenly heard a huge bang sound somewhere from under the aircraft. I just thought that it wasn't the sound we should not hear at this over sea level....
A few seconds later we heard the sound, the captain called a service manager on the phone, and then he entered the cockpit. Right after he got out, he took a phone, called all the crew menbers, and told something emergency.... I felt....
It was a moment that the atomspher inside the aircraft changed into a sort of tence. The crew started preparing something with the seatbelt singns turned on. It was very easy to notice it for me because I was sitting at one of front lows.
"Oh no... We are going back to Paris....!"
That's what I tought. I'm a very optimistic person, and never thought of crush or something emergency landing stuff. My intuition just told me that it was not going to be serious.
The captain officially made an announcement about an engine trouble of the aircraft, and gave us an appology for the return to Paris.
We were lucky enough to return to Paris safely, but had to que for the accomodations offered by Emirates. Some of the passengers were very angry about the situations, but they should've felt lucky that they were still alive.
Even if no matter how much fast I rushed into the que, the situation was the same. I just didn't want to get into the tence, so I politely asked my clients to wait untile I came back, and I started quing almost at the end.
Can you imagine what we got?
The over-night accomodation at Hilton airport for my group!!! Most of the passenger were sent to standard hotels at the airport, but only my group got a superior one!!!
In Japanese proverbs, "The left-over draws always come with a luck."
See, it is right!
