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A 1990s pop-rock music star and his wife sent their kids a sentimental message as the couple’s flight dove toward the ocean.
The Sun reports that Chesney Hawkes — known to some of us as “The One and Only” (nobody he’d rather be!) — and his wife Krissy were aboard Aegean Airlines flight 560 this past Monday. The Barcelona-bound flight took off from Thessaloniki, Greece.
Around a half hour after reaching a cruise altitude of 36,000 the plane inexplicably began a rapid descent.
According to FlightAware data, the A320 dropped approximately 1,475 feet over the course of about 30 seconds. For the next several moments, the plane descended at a rate of around 5200 feet per minute before leveling out at 10,000 feet.
“The plane was rattling and banked so steeply we looked out and could see the sea,” Mr. Hawkes said (via The Sun). We thought we were going into the water. Krissy and I looked at each other and hugged.”
He added, “We left a voice message on the family Whats-App group. We were both crying and told the kids how proud we were of them and how much we loved them.”
Yikes.
Thanku 2 all that kept their heads cool, especially #captainfantastic for landing our plane safely 2day.
This was not what we expected 2day, but it’s made us appreciate life and those we love just that little bit morehttps://t.co/DBgKkwDRpn
#Aegean #livelife #heroes #scary pic.twitter.com/qAfO4AK48L
— chesneyhawkes (@ChesneyHawkes) July 3, 2023
The plane diverted to Naples. The Sun reports there were no serious injuries. (Well, physical injuries, at least.) Mr. and Mrs. Hawkes said they deleted the message before their children saw it.
Thanks for the email we received as we landed @aegeanairlines I might have a few things to say! #scary #aegean #liveliness #hero #travel #family #love pic.twitter.com/faG7oaUAKB
— chesneyhawkes (@ChesneyHawkes) July 5, 2023
Something tells me might get a few miles or points for the inconvenience.
Elsewhere
A few other travel-related stories caught my eye.
Remember that incident last week when a woman claimed there was a ghost or something on her plane? Turns out that Carrot Top was on the flight, too.
Wow! Did you see this crazy video of a big shark getting very close to a swimmers at a Florida beach?
Not sure yet what you’re doing for dinner? A Las Vegas off-Strip restaurant offers a $200 sandwich. That reminds me of something like a $5,000 burger at Hubert Keller’s (I think) Fleur at Mandalay Bay. A longtime bartender told me that during his years at the restaurant, he saw one person order the burger. It turns out that it’s a slightly jazzier version of their standard burger — it just comes with a $5,000 bottle of wine.
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“the A320 dropped approximately 1,475 feet”
My guess is there is a mising zero on the distance dropped, 14,750 feet.
The FlightAware ADS-B data (including corresponding altitudes) reflect -1,475.
The plane initially dropped 1475 feet from a cruising altitude of 36000 feet in 30 seconds then continued a decent of 5200 feet per minute before leveling off at 10000 feet.
What was the issue with the plane???