Many years ago now I was on a QANTAS 707 as a pax travelling from Hong Kong to Sydney via Manila. There was a typhoon in the vicinity of Manila and some questions as to a landing there. In the event we did before proceeding to Sydney.
The flight was chockers, mostly with tour groups returning to Aus and they had a roudy trip before falling asleep. Dawn saw us approaching Sydney for what turned out to be a rwy 07 approach. The weather was not bad, scattered stratus at about 3,000 but there must have been some wind as the wings were rocking and the power was on and off the whole approach.
The landing was an arrival. Overhead lockers flew open, bags and coats tumbled out. There was a stunned silence in the cabin with a few half under breath oaths. As the aircraft left the runway the PA came on. It was the captain who said something like:
"Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for flying with QANTAS. (pause) Some of you will realise that not all landings can be as good as mine was at Manila. The first officer would like to apologise to you all and buy you a drink. I, however, don't think he can afford that much. Thank you again for choosing QANTAS."
The cabin errupted into laughter. A short time later we were queued waiting to go through immigration when the crew appeared. The captain was laughing with the engineer and cabin crew. The first officer had a look on his face that could only resemble a mature thunderstorm. He proceeded at a great rate through the check and was away well before the rest of the crew. I don't think he was happy.
