Friday, September 23, 2005

Watching Your Own Death on TV

In the old days (and probably still now) airlines went through great pains to forbid in-flight movies with any mention of disaster -- especially airplane crashes.

Looks like Jet Blue's in-seat TV kinda poked a hole in that "veil of comfort" when passenger watched their own plane perform an emergency landing.. live on TV.

"Mister, could you please un-recline your seat. You are so far back I cannot even open my tray table, as you can clearly see on the video here on channel 6."

Yahoo



JetBlue Passengers Watched Ordeal on TVs

By TIM MOLLOY, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 22, 5:10 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - Letting customers watch TV at their seats has been a JetBlue calling card since the airline took flight in 1999.


But the frill made for a bizarre experience as passengers aboard an airliner with a crippled nose wheel watched news reports about their own flight even as they prepared for an emergency landing.

Some of those aboard Flight 292, which landed safely Wednesday at Los Angeles International Airport, said later that they appreciated seeing news reports on what was happening. Others were horrified.

"It was absolutely terrifying, actually. Seeing the events broadcast made it completely surreal and detached me from the event," said Zachary Mastoon, a musician heading home on the Burbank-to-New York flight. "It became this television show I was inextricably linked to. It was no longer my situation, it was broadcast for everyone to see. It only exacerbated the situation and my fear."

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