As pax, this subject gives me a chance to blow my own trumpet just a little bit. I love flying (although always a little nervous) and read a lot about it, have had a couple of lessons, and have a reasonable knowledge of the ins and outs but have always wondered how I would feel/react if there was an emergency. Flying into LGW I was seated in the aisle seat with a young mum and baby in window seat. At what seemed to be a few feet above the runway on landing the nose was suddenly pointed at the sky and the engines screaming at full power. With my limited knowledge I realized it was a GA and the only thing to worry about was the reason. Heart was pounding quite a bit. The young mum looked at me and said "Oh dear, is this usual." I surprised myself by, instead of screaming "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE," I calmly said "Oh yes, it's probably just someone slow getting off the runway in front of us or something." (Possibly true, but tell that to my pounding heart). A nervous few minutes as we circled round with no announcements. Eventually, in that calm sounding pilot voice:"Captain here ladies and gentlemen. Sorry about that." (He really sounded like that caricature of a pilot from WWII). He then went on to explain that the gear didn't deploy and still didn't with the first of the two backup systems so wisely decided to get height before trying the third (which was now deployed). We landed fine with MUCH clapping from the passengers.
This was my first and only GA and has, at least, reassured me that I am not too much of a panicker in such situations. Don't particularly want another one though.
