Southwest pilot to passengers: 'We're going down' Oops!

I added the oops in there. I can just imagine the variety of reactions from passengers. And LMAO at that thought. I used to fly SW when I work construction frequently. I hate flying. So bad, 1 trip a sitting across from me gave a couple valium during take off. I hate flying. The upside for these passengers is they're still alive and unscathed with a new appreciation for life! Be thankful for that.
Yahoo News

These pilots have funny senses of humor. One time after leaving Florida to a Sub Zero New York our pilot said we are taking off for sunny Aruba. After a slight pause he then came on the loudspeaker and said "giddy up" and throttled up to full in one second jerking the whole plane forward. Maybe i shoulda been a fly- boy

reply to post by dashen


You do sometimes get slightly crazy pilots. Once sitting at the gate waiting for clearance our pilot went through the various jets he used to fly for the airforce.. it was a very jerky and abrupt flight.

The people on this plane should be glad the pilot was able to get them to ground safely, instead of bitching about how they got scared because of what he said.

reply to post by Hillbilly123069


It would be interesting to hear the tape to know if those were his exact words. I guess its time to reach out to my friends back-East.

The pilot indeed needed to pitch the plane down to FL250 (the "we are going down" comment that needs to be clarified) to see if it would clear the maintenance alarm they were receiving; in which it did. Cabin pressure and all that is quite important.

Maybe this is just what people heard? Or maybe the pilot didn't articulate as well as he should have; either way, the pilot's training kicked in, took the aircraft to a safe flight-level and proceeded on with no incident...

Sounds like a good story and a happy ending.

ETA: Supposedly, the captain; according to the article he was panicked; stated 'We're in trouble, we're going down.'

Indeed he took the aircraft down...as he should have.

I'm wondering if the pilot accidentally hit the pa button while talking to the FO.

reply to post by Hillbilly123069


One of the early and best of UFO cases was the Chiles-Whittid case of 1948. They were pilots of an Eastern airliner on a night flight when a bright UFO approached them head-on at a tremendous speed. At the last second Chiles jerked the DC-3 to the left and the object swerved to the right of the plane. Whittid looked back out his window to see the object do an abrupt and steep ascent. Some passengers on the airliner also witnessed the object.

That case was not reported as a UFO (however, that term wasn't in use at the time), but a mysterious aircraft, perhaps one of the new-fangled jet aircraft being developed.

These days pilots have learned that they do not report seeing UFOs or especially close-encounters with UFOs if they want to keep their jobs.

This latest incident may well have been a seemingly near-miss with a UFO. I say, that because the plane quickly recovered from its short "emergency" dive. However, if the plane dove under an head-on approaching UFO and it passed directly over the top of the plane, it would be unlikely that any passenger other then the pilots saw the object.