I began flying in jets in June of 1967. I have logged a few million miles in the air over the last 41 years. I even flew as an air crew member on a Grumman S-2 anti-submarine plane off the aircraft carrier USS Lexington in 1968. I also flew over areas under fire in Vietnam in 1971.
In those 41 years in the air, there were two moments that I thought I was going to die. The first was on a flight between Sao Paulo,Brasil and Buenos Aires, Argentina in February of 1980. The second was on your one-hour flight from Chong Qing to Xian. I first noted a problem when the pilot began a maneuver that appeared to be an effort to evade turbulence. The pilot then announced that we were turning back due to "mechanical problems."
We were close to 40 minutes into the flight when the pilot announced the mechanical problem. The pilot announced that we had to return to Chong Qing. I found this strange as we were so close to Xian where your maintenance center and corporate headquarters is located.
When we got back on the ground in Chong Qing, we never were told the official nature of the mechanical problem. What we heard unofficially was that a crack had developed in the pilot's windshield or wind screen. Such a defect should have been detected in normal maintenance inspections. If the pilot's wind screen had actually shattered in flight, an explosive decompression would have followed. If the cabin crew did not don oxygen masks in less than a second, they would have passed out and the plane would have crashed. Such a catastrophic situation took place in the US some years ago when the wind screen of a Lear Jet shattered and the pilot was rendered unconscious. In this case, the explosive decompression eventually killed everyone inside the plane. The plane continued flying on automatic pilot until it ran out of fuel over the American state of Georgia.
What followed once we got back into the terminal in Chong Qing was a disaster. We were given all kind of promises about when another plane would arrive. We were given some putrid food as a dinner. It was not edible. We were offered a hotel room for the night. After seeing the food, we were sure that the hotel room provided would have been just as deplorable.
Your local staff showed a complete indifference to our situation. It seemed as if no one wanted to take responsibility or do anything. From 1987 to 1988 I lived in a section of Los Angeles full of Russian people from the old Soviet Union. My best friend had been right at the top of the old Soviet elite. His father had been a member of the Politburo. I got the impression from all of these people that in a Communist system, no one wanted to take responsibility for anything. I saw the bad side of the old Communist system in action on the part of your staff and management assigned to handle the problem.
Two very brave women risked arrest to raise their voices and mount a violent protest against the indifference of your staff and management. The bravery of these two women lead to a plane coming to get us at 12:30 AM the following morning for the trip to Xian.
What I have learned in my 60 years of life is that the world is a small place. We also have a saying in American English as follows:
"Bad news travels like wildfire!"
I will post a copy of this email to my blog; www.ohomen171.blogspot.com. Please feel free to comment.
Overall our trip to China was a good experience. We were given a warm welcome and a friendly response. We came away with a good impression of China. It is a pity that we had this one bad experience.
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