Great Video, But Little Danger in Emergency Jet Landing

Sept. 22, 2005 -- -- In many respects, the picture-perfect emergency landing of a JetBlue Airbus yesterday at LAX crossed a very odd dividing line between virtual and hard reality. By the time the calm, professional pilots at the controls of the A320 settled in on final approach, not only were we riveted by the amazing TV shots from helicopters and cameras on the ground -- so were the very people involuntarily thrust into the middle of the drama: the passengers themselves.

Thanks to JetBlue's satellite television system, which features monitors nestled in each passenger's seat back, the passengers aboard JetBlue 292 had only to flick on CNN or FOX to see themselves in living color, flying, turning and finally landing -- complete with a burst of flame as the sideways nosewheels disintegrated.

But, as is often the case with aviation, there were as many major misconceptions as television news helicopters covering the story, and the situation became more confused as the A320 came to a safe halt on the runway.

Yes, I know. There were smoke plumes and flames. And before that there were scary pictures of a jetliner in flight with a nosewheel cocked 90 degrees to where it should be -- which is not the most comforting way to begin a flight to New York (where Flight 292 was initially bound). There were even a few reporters who opined that perhaps the plane would jerk itself off the runway when the nosewheel touched down, or would go tumbling into the weeds as it rolled and shed engines and parts.

That wouldn't have been a difficult fiction to sell. We are, after all, a rather voyeuristic society thoroughly desensitized by disaster movies featuring endless crashes of trains, planes and automobiles -- not to mention relationships. And as a fiction thriller author, I've written my share, too.