Once I had to attend one urgent business meeting in Delhi. The fastest way that I could have reached Delhi from Kolkata was by air. So I immediately booked an air ticket through our company's travel agent to reach Delhi the next day. Everything was set and I left my office for the airport.

After clearing all the check-in formalities I boarded my flight. I had travelled by plane several times before and never faced any problem. I never expected any problem this time either, but destiny had some other plan.

After the plane took off from the airport I started to mentally prepare myself for the meeting. This meeting was called on a very short notice and I never had enough time to prepare. I checked the presentation and other details in my laptop.

Then all of a sudden I felt a strong jerk in my seat. I looked around and saw that everyone in the plane felt the same. After that turbulence the plane started to shake slightly. All of us really got petrified at this and was wondering what was going on. The shaking continued for some seconds when suddenly the captain made an announcement stating that there was a technical snag in one of the aircraft's engines and so it is for this reason the aircraft was experiencing the jolt. He requested us not to panic but tie our seat belts quickly. He assured that everything will be under control shortly.

But things never got under control after that. On the contrary there was another jerk in the plane and it started to descend in altitude. Then the captain again requested us not to panic as he was trying to fix the technical snag. Most of the passengers understood that a serious problem may have occurred. After frequently questioning the air hostess, we came to know that there has been a technical snag in one of the engines for which the plane was gradually losing height. Hearing this we started to pray and remained clinched to our seats. It had been already two hours by then. I was only praying that we reach Delhi airport and somehow make a landing. Just then the captain announced that we have reached the Delhi airport and the plane was preparing to land. We all gave a sigh of relief! We were all still scared though.

The captain sounded quite confident and his announcement brought us back to life. We all remained glued to our seats and kept praying to our Gods for a safe landing. After sometime we felt the plane touching the runway and then the captain announced that we have successfully landed. We thanked the pilot and quickly left the plane still horrified.

This was quite a narrow escape! After escaping this near death situation, I was quite afraid of travelling in a plane for some time. Hence, while coming back from Delhi I chose to travel by train.
© Arked