Preparing For a Water Landing

I recently heard in the news that passengers flying from Miami to London on a British Airways flight were awoken mid flight while over the Atlantic ocean by a cockpit recording telling them that to prepare for a water landing. The emergency landing alert they heard had accidentally been activated by the crew. OOPS!

Where to begin on this? First of all I'd like to address the concept of a water "landing". This is a phrase that has been prettied up to keep people from panicking, but it really means "we are about to crash into the ocean and die". I can think of few things that scare me more than crashing into a large body of water and being disoriented in the dark as cold water rushes into a cabin full of panicked passengers.


Unless you are flying in this plane, don't call it a water landing!

From my vast knowledge of airplane survival facts, I can tell you that if you are lucky enough to survive a water landing, you could end up as a lonely guy on a remote island talking to a volleyball or even worse, be stuck on an island with a bunch of other survivors who end up getting on each others nerves, seeing polar bears, kidnapping each other, and fighting against the Dharma initiative.


I'm sure the passengers were relieved when they realized it was just a false alarm. When I say relieved, I imagine many of them were literally relieved. There must have been a long line to the lavatory afterwards. Can you imagine the adrenaline that you would feel if you heard a message like that? I think I'd rather have my luggage lost 10 times while traveling as opposed to hearing the message that I should brace for an emergency water landing.

I'm glad nobody was hurt and I'm really glad it didn't happen to me.