Just reading the 'Western Gazette' website and saw this:
Click here for full version of Western Gazette
EX-MAYOR RELIVES HORROR FLIGHT ON BURNING PLANE
BY JILL GOSSAGE STAFF REPORTER
15:00 - 13 November 2003
A Former north Dorset mayor has spoken of her traumatic brush with death in a burning plane struck by lightning during a "cosmic storm". Janet Rider, Mayor of Shaftesbury 11 years ago, was on her way home from a holiday in Cuba with daughter Virginia when the Monarch Airlines' A330 Airbus with 384 passengers on board had to be diverted to St John's Airport, Newfoundland.
"We were told by firefighters the next day that if we hadn't got down within ten minutes we would never have made it," said a still-shaken Mrs Rider at her home in Castle Hill Close, Shaftesbury.
"They also told us that we were refused permission to land at New York because we had come from Cuba and the authorities feared there could be a repetition of 9?11."
Mrs Rider first suspected something might be wrong when she saw a flash of light on the starboard wing.
"The weather was very turbulent because we were flying through the cosmic storm but I thought the flash was probably a reflection of the wing light in the window against the blackness of the sky," she said.
"Then the air conditioning duct above the lockers started vibrating badly but a steward said it was just ice in it rattling which I didn't believe. The passenger cabin filled with the smell of burning rubber. The captain said it was a slight electrical fault which they were trying to rectify."
Passengers had barely started eating their meals when the captain ordered them to be collected and stowed away and the cabin crew to return to their seats.
"Then the TV screens went off and the whole cabin plunged into darkness with only the blue emergency floor lights pointing the way to the emergency exits," said Mrs Rider.
"One minute we had lights, the next we were in total darkness. Children were crying, a woman screamed, 'We are all going to die' and it was really quite frightening. Eventually the captain said we were going to divert to Newfoundland.
"The engines cut out and everything went silent. You could hear a pin drop. It seemed like eternity. We started to fall rapidly and I thought, 'This is it'. I put my pillow and blanket on my lap and held Virginia's hand, expecting to be told that we had to adopt the crash position but no announcement came.
"We then landed very fast and were told to take what hand luggage we could and to leave the plane as quickly as possible. There was no pushing and shoving but I've never known a plane disembark so fast."
Passengers spent the night in a Holiday Inn and before a replacement plane arrived from the UK Mrs Rider and her daughter went for a walk around the area.
"We came upon the Kent's Pond fire station and the firefighters there told us they had been called to the airport and that there had been a fire in the cockpit which had been put out before they arrived but was still smoking," said Mrs Rider.
"When we eventually arrived back at Gatwick I felt I wanted to kiss the ground like the Pope. Even though it was pouring with rain and freezing I was never more glad to be back on terra firma."
Mrs Rider is still sleeping badly and having flashbacks after the incident two weeks ago.
"I keep thinking, 'What if?' They say that your life passes through your eyes when you're facing death but it didn't. I believe that your life is mapped out from the moment you're born and I guess our time wasn't yet up. I'm just glad to be alive."
Sounds like a script for a new Hollywood disaster movie. How much do they pay these journalists to put rubbish like this in a newspaper?