When Julia Buckley stepped onto British Airways flight 249 from London to Rio de Janeiro last week, she was “trembling with fear,” but the pilot on the flight handed her a note that she says did a lot to help ease her anxiety. “Disembarked serene [with] a diagram of aerodynamics drawn by pilot Del who single-handedly cured 80% of my fear of flying,” Buckley tweeted along with a picture drawn by the pilot explaining the plane wing’s aerodynamics.
Buckley, a journalist based in Venice, Italy, had been researching a story on air safety and plane crashes in the weeks before her trans-Atlantic flight. So she was a “complete wreck” when it came time to board the plane. But when the crew on board the 787 Dreamliner learned that she was afraid of flying, they all helped to set her mind at ease.
Not only did Pilot Del give her a sketch explaining how the plane stays in the air, but he also demonstrated the concept of lift by blowing on a piece of paper and he explains that the 787 can glide for three hours without engine power and during the flight they would never be more than three hours from a runway. After having a bad experience on the same trip previously, she says this flight was the best ever. “Taking the time to explain helped so much,” she says and adds, “Absolutely world-class team yesterday.”
Source: NY Post