Cross Post:UK: Emergency landing on trip to cure flying fear

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UK: Emergency landing on trip to cure flying fear

AN aircraft carrying four women on a flight to help them overcome their fear of flying was forced to make an emergency landing yesterday.

The propeller plane had to return to Manchester minutes after take off when what appeared to be smoke seeped into the cabin. The four were on a round trip from Belfast and the flight was their first after completing a six-week course to cure their phobia.

The first leg of the journey went without a problem and just when they thought that they had overcome the fear the harmless "thick mist" was pumped in by the air conditioning. Fire crews and engineers were called to inspect the aircraft and the passengers returned to Ireland on another plane.

A British Airways spokesman said the plane was in no danger. "There was a problem with the air conditioning unit and it started to produce a thick mist which may have looked like smoke. This doesn't affect the aircraft but as a precautionary measure the pilot returned to Manchester.

"If there were a few nervous passengers on board I can imagine it could have been quite a frightening experience." The course to cure fear of flying, which cost #155, was run by Queen's University, Belfast. Accountant Nikki Crothers, 26, one of the four on the course, said: "On the flight over from Belfast to Manchester I would say I was completely cured.

"But when I saw what looked like smoke on the return trip, everything I had achieved on the course was put into reverse. I noticed a smell like an electric fire burning and thought 'Oh, my God'. My throat became sore - probably out of fear - and I was panicking. I couldn't believe what was happening.

"By the time we turned around and landed it felt like an hour, but in reality it was only 15 minutes." Miss Crothers, from Lisburn, Northern Ireland, who has had a fear of flying since she was 16, said she had to think twice before getting on another plane to go home. All four on the course have been given free flights to make sure that they are completely cured.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000122257519214&rtmo=02ebXexq&atmo=FFFFFFtX&pg=/et/00/3/4/nfear04.html

-- cheryl (lookingup@go.com), March 05, 2000

Answers

HA! Isn't it ironic

-- cin (cinlooo@aol.com), March 05, 2000.

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