Mass hysteria now the norm: Plane full of passengers goes ape shit crazy over unclaimed mobile phone… pilot schedules emergency landing with military fighter escort!

It doesn’t take much effort to stir a panic in an age of hypersensitivity, especially on an airplane. Turkish Airlines flight TK79 was making a typical flight from Istanbul to San Francisco when a mobile phone was discovered on an empty seat in the rear end of the plane. After none of the passengers claimed ownership of the phone, the cabin crew concluded that the cell phone must be a bomber’s detonator, possibly owned by an ISIS terrorist thug.

Or at least, that is what cabin crew members were required to treat the situation as. Just two hours into the flight, the plane had to make an emergency landing in Warsaw because of the mysterious phone. In the meantime, the crew members were able to give the passengers a full-blown anxiety attack by following strict protocol. A baby began to cry; a mother burst into tears.

“Everything is normal”

“Everything is normal,” the captain tried to assure the passengers over the intercom. Of course, everything wasn’t normal. “We are in Polish airspace and are going to make an emergency landing. In these circumstances, military jets accompany planes. If you see some military jets, please, it is normal too.”⁽¹⁾

The captain then dumped the plane’s fuel over the Polish countryside; fighter jets accompanied the flight. The captain and crew members spent about an hour debating what they should do with the cell phone.

“We took the phone, placed it outside door five at the farthest right-hand corner of the plane, put it on top of a piece of luggage and then put another piece of luggage on top of that and covered both with a blanket. That is exactly what the security manual says,” said Gökhan Ataç, the captain of the plane.⁽¹⁾

A metaphorical storm cloud hung over the passengers heads as they tensely waited to make landing. One suspects that many passengers would have traded a bomb scare for an actual storm cloud any day of the week.

The plane made touchdown at at the Frederic Chopin airport. The Boeing 777-300 was accompanied by police and firefighters when it made landing. Let the reader be reminded that this hysteria was provoked by a single, unidentified cell phone.⁽²⁾

Plane landing accompanied by police and firefighters

Turkish Airlines tried to comfort the passengers with chocolate and coffee in the Frederick Chopin VIP lounge. Once the passengers had evacuated the plane, the aircraft was inspected and deemed safe by officials; no actual weapons had been found on board. The situation was classified as a false alarm.

After several hours on the ground, the plane was refueled and the passengers re-boarded. Nevertheless, the mood of the flight had changed; a sense of uneasiness pervaded the air. In addition, the in-flight dinner was delayed and the internet was shut off. No explanation was given by sources about why passengers were unable to gain access to the internet after the bomb scare.⁽³⁾

Mass hysteria is the new norm for air travelers. The mystery phone provoked fear among passengers and crew members, forced the pilot to unleash thousands of tons of fuel and caused a major flight delay, as well as summon police and firefighters. The cell phone was most likely left by a passenger on a previous flight. The whole debacle resembles a bad commercial reminding movie goers to make sure to turn off their cell phone prior to a film. After all, you wouldn’t want your cell phone to cause a disturbance, would you?

Sources include:

(1) http://www.theguardian.com

(2) http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com

(3) http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com