I always prefer the planes that lurch forward to the ones that just try and sit still in mid-air.
And I wonder how the good professor knew the entire 44 people were praying to St Patrick? Did they all simultaneously shout out "Help me, Pat"?. Got to say, I'm fairly sure it wouldn't be my first choice of words...
(Could have been a vision, maybe. Or maybe a Guinness or three prior to boarding)