But not everyone can experience the washing machine feeling.
CREDIT: Getty Images
Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek.
Planes don’t always offer a comfortable ride.
However, passengers on a Sunday morning AirAsia X flight from Perth, Australia, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, endured an experience generally reserved for anyone sitting on top of a washing machine, as it goes through a particularly aggressive spin cycle.
As video taken by passengers shows, the Airbus 330 shook and shook and shook.
One passenger with the Instragram handle maesaya shot video and said: “I thought I might die…..Today was my beginning the trip, but I backed to the Perth due to technical issue….Anyway I still arrive!!! Thank you God!!! #airasia #perth #fright.”
Other videos began appearing on YouTube. They also showed nervous passengers wondering what on Earth was going on, as the flight turned back to Perth.
It did get back safely,
AirAsia didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The airline did make a statement that there had been a “technical issue.”
Quite a large technical issue, it seems.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation quoted passenger Sophie Nicolas as saying: “I could just tell by the cabin crew’s reaction that it was really bad.”
Passenger Brenton Atkinson told ABC: “It was essentially the engine seized up I think. That’s what they told us anyway. It was literally like you were sitting on top of a washing machine. The whole thing was going. We could see the engine out the window which was really shaken on the wing.”
The captain asked everyone to pray and added, according to Nicolas: “I’ll be saying a prayer too.”
He even reportedly asked people on the left hand side of the plane to check on the engine. Just, you know, in case.
Some reports suggest a blade had fallen off a turbine.
The incident is a reminder that for all the troubling image of airlines, for all the poor customer service that regularly gets reported, moving very quickly in a metal tube at 35,000 feet carries with it risks.
How the crew react to those risks matters. In this case, it seemed as if there was a relatively sanguine atmosphere.
There was, say reports, even time for mordant humor, said the Sydney Morning Herald.
“Not great, not amazing,” one passenger appeared to say in one of the videos. “We’re having 50 million beers when we get back.”
I can find no evidence that Australia has run out of beer.
Australia 2 Malaysia.airplane fan blade went missing. Pls pray for my sister which onboard @AirAsia do something please! @tonyfernandes
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.