I remember this story awhile ago http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle1530572.ece
about someone dying on an airplane. I never thought of this before, but how disturbing! Could you imagine being on a flight when that happened? There is nowhere to put the body so I guess they just have to give it a seat for the remainder of the flight.
It happened pretty recently on a train somewhere too. Except they didn't know the guy was dead. Just let him ride, and ride, and ride...
It happened to my niece on a flight, the guy next to her died. Very upsetting for her. I wouldn't want to go thru that.Originally Posted by magblax
As someone who just got off a plane an flys often, I' ve never saw this happen. In 1st class or business, one would look to be sleeping and unless it is a long flight they don't wake you unless you ask. I would guess in coach they may have to drag the stiff below decks.
I would hope that the crew would be smart enough to store the body in a lavatory (with an "out of order sign") for the remainder of the flight.
Because anyone asking me to remain sitting next to a stiff is also agreeing to provide me with Free Drinks for the remainder of the flight.
Far cheaper to just move the body to a lav, I say.
A guy I used to work with died on a layover in Chicago.... He had gotten off the plane to smoke, and never came back on the plane... Massive heart attack... The woman he was traveling with didn't know what the hell to do... They held up the plane for awhile waiting for him, then they took off. The woman left him and went on to DC.... She knew he was dead, too... They were coworkers... To me that was pretty uncool. If that was my husband or brother, I would be really pissed off at her for just leaving him there...
S
Depends on where she left him......on the baggage carousel would be in truly bad taste.....no wonder I thought of it! Seriously, I'm sure that she left after EMT's or at least police arrived.....no one would just walk away from a body....they get really upset if you even walk away from your carry on luggage in an airport!
I wonder who gets the extra bag of peanuts
Death Hag Extraordinaire
Back in the early 90's I had a local boarding pax kick the bucket.I was missing a boarding pass so I searched the gate area and he was a older overweight business guy.He looked asleep but was not going to wake up.I kinda poked at him then called the paramedics.Delayed the flight too.
My buddy Roger sat on a Vegas turn around bus with a dead man behind him. He died before Bartow and the wife told the bus drive to keep going till they got back to Van Nuys. She didn't want to be stranded. The couple was in there 80's.
Kim
Maybe I'm just weird, but it wouldn't bother me if they place a dead body next to me or in my row. Shit at least it will be quiet and i wont get bumped or bugged, like some of those pain in the ass kids that kicks my seat plus if that person is traveling alone, it would be an honor for me to be there with them even though they aren't there any more. No one likes the thought of dying alone let along sitting alone dead. I mean the plane is already a tight place to be, if someone dies its very sad that it happened while in the air, but i think the stuck up people that are like omg should just look at it as out of respect and deal with it.
2) maybe in the future just do not sale the very back row seats just in case of emergency situations death, pregnant women, sick child..ect then people wont get all freaked out about it.
or
3) if the person happen to die in their seat, i think they just need to let one of the flight attendants known and just get a blanket and some pillows and make them comfy, and not to cause a big ol scene, cause can you imagine the scene they would cause in that tiny ass row trying to carry a body from seat 2a all the way back to the damn bathroom? and some flights only have 1 bathroom in the back and 1 in the front.
Last edited by rjbrasher; 10-26-2007 at 10:29 PM.
I hope you are right!Depends on where she left him......on the baggage carousel would be in truly bad taste.....no wonder I thought of it! Seriously, I'm sure that she left after EMT's or at least police arrived.....no one would just walk away from a body....they get really upset if you even walk away from your carry on luggage in an airport!But this woman was a real jungle climber... She was a Lt Col or Major in the USAF and decided to go on to the conference or whatever it was that they were going to... I think what got me was that there was no way that this was a top secret meeting or something that she absolutely had to be at... She could have delayed her flight and got in to DC later... I think she just made the choice and left him... Yuck!!
S
I agree RJ, I'd prefer not to sit right next to a corpse, but it wouldn't be the end of the world... The only thing that would maybe get to me would be if he lost control of his bowels or peed either before or after dying... I guess it would also depend on how long it would be...
I am guessing that unless the plane is completely packed, they would move people sitting directly around them to another place...
S
I had this happen once, years ago, although not on public transport. I used to be heavily into amateur theatre, and we performed a matinee one Saturday afternoon for the OAPs at the local nursing home. They all shuffled in, we did the show and they all shuffled out, except for one poor little lod lady who had done some shuffling of her own - her mortal coil. Poor love.
Of course, it wasn't long before the bad jokes started - "Surely we weren't that bad?" and "Did anyone notice if she was laughing when she died?"
Renowned Death Hag
Reminds me of a funny story a doctor told me once. Whenever flight staff comes around asking if there are any doctors on the plane, all the doctors immediately feign sleep!
Another time this fella had passed out from all the free beer, and this doc was called over to look at him.
The next thing he hears is, "I'm ready, doctor!" He turned around to find a flight attendant with those defibrillators in hand, ready to shock the unconscious passenger!
"Put those things away. The guy's drunk, not flat-lining!"
hopes rj 's on the plane with me when that happens then we can switch seats
lol
Renowned Death Hag
This happens a lot on the subways in NY.. I've waited through many delays because they found a dead person on the train (usually homeless).
About the dead person on an airplane, I would not be able to sit next the them... that's too creepy for me.
I've got a book called Air Babylon (never piss off airline people) and it says that they put corpses in the toilets! I'm always conscious of 'out of order' loos...lol
I worked for an aviation leasing company for 10 years and have heard hundreds of stories about people dying mid flight.
Here's the run down: Some aircraft are equipped with a "dead man's draw" which is designed to fit one body in it (a bit like a mourge draw). It pullls out and the person is put inside lying flat and the draw is closed. If the aircraft isnt fit with a draw they will either put the person in the toilet or will put them in an empty seat. They will try their hardest to avoid having someone sit next to the person, but if the aircraft is filled to capacity they will ask someone to sit next to the corpse. From what I've heard it isnt pleasant. The body will make noises (gases escaping etc).
More bits of trivial information: A person is not declared "dead" until the aircraft lands and a doctor boards the aircraft and announces the person officially dead. So if you die 1 hour into a 20 flight and your flying over the ocean - your death certificate will say the time of death is when the plane landed and also will state you died in the country you landed in. No one on board a flight can pronounce you dead - even if there is a doctor on board.
[SIZE=3]Back when Carter was President I was a passenger on a military MedEvac flight returning to USA from Asia.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]From the cockpit to about mid-plane were regular airline style seating but they were all facing the rear of the plane â?? looking towards the tail.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The back half of the plane was where in-flight beds were. About 20 bunk type beds I would guess. Unfortunately most beds were full of sick and injured military people. We had left Guam and were heading for Hawaii then to California.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Hours before we got to HI one of the patients right in front of the seats had a seizer and died. Just like that. He had been in a motorcycle accident and looked to be in very bad shape. Lots of tubes and wires and traction and bandages and things. His wife was also on the flight.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]He had been getting a lot of attention from the medics through out the flight but nothing rushed. He suddenly went into convulsions â?? his body suddenly got ridged and started to uncontrollably shake. Strange breathing sounds. His wife began to shriek and the medics rushed over. Before they did much of anything he simply went limp and fell silent.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The medics worked on him for around an hour. CPR. Blood. Lots of needles, meds and shocking of his chest. Not fun to watch. I think he was dead long before they finally gave up. Several of the other patients and passengers were shouting encouragements to him and the medics. Some were crying. Others got sick. Parents trying to hide their children from the sight. It was just terrible and I could do nothing but watch. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]They must have given the wife some kind of sedative or she had fallen into a state of shock. She was quiet at the end of it and they let her hold his hand when the medics stopped. She spent the remainder of the flight standing with her covered husband, holding his hand and staring at something far far away.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]One of the medics got on the PA and apologized for what we had witness and said they just couldnâ??t save him. I believe him. It was just like an ER episode. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Iâ??m actually a bit teary eyed right now remembering thisâ?¦ [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]It seemed to take hours to get to HI. They had all us passengers and patients who could walk get off the flight right away. We all wanted to get out ASAP but had to walk right past the body to get out. Terrible thing to witness. Terrible thing to endure.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Later I had to take the same damn plane, with out any further drama, the rest of the way to Calif. Not a good day.[/SIZE]
ROTFLMFAO!!!!!!!Depends on where she left him......on the baggage carousel would be in truly bad taste.....
Thanks pechar and kugmu for the stories and insite...I knew someone would know the inside scoop. Death on a flight is something that i hadn't though of before and hope to never encounter!
What about if its a long flight.....like 15hrs.....yuck....I'll pass on that.
I was on a cruiseship when someone croaked. Just outside of Vancouver, the first evening. At dinner, two were missing from the table, didn't think anything about it, only there was all this rattling and roughness and vibrations for about an hour. Turns out, we found out the next morning, some guy down the hall had croaked right after we left Vancouver and they turned around the take his body back to port, that was all the rumbling and vibrations for that hour or so, turning the ship around. The Alaskan cruises don't have far to go, so the time was made up easily. He was supposed to be at our table and his cabin was down the hall!
My friend got married earlier this year. On the flight back from their honeymoon some guy on their plane had a heart attack. The plane makes an emergency landing at the nearest available airport. Only it happened to be Tehran in Iran. You can imagine the panic that swamped over the passengers, who thought it was some elaborate hoax to hijack the plane.
Anyway, the plane was boarded by security staff with semi-automatic rifles. A man started ranting about missing his connecting flight to Bangkok, until a stewardess told him: "Sorry to inconvenience sir, if you don't mind a fellow passenger has just DIED and we're removing him from the plane." By all accounts the guy shut up after that. They put the man that died in a body bag and placed him in the cargo hold before taking off again.
All pretty surreal, scary, sad and impossible to make up.
Never happened to me, but did once to my husband. He isn't easily freaked out and shrugged his shoulders and said they just covered them with a blanket and tried to find another seat for those next to the newly expired. I would have wished to deplane personally. I feel for the poor flight attendant that tried to wake her.
I was on a cruise where someone died. Apparently, it happens alot. We got to port 6 hours early & the airlifted the guy from Mexico.
Senior Death Hag
Oh boy... seems we got another one in Chicago here today....
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...i_tab01_layout
would be sad on your vacation .
yes, kathy, but....
death never takes a holiday!!!
Back in 1988 I took a flight from Buffalo to Florida. A woman in her early 40's got on the plane after the usual farewell scnene at the airport with the husband and kids, the good-bye "mommy will miss you so much, be good" kind of thing. About an hour later all hell broke loose and suddenly stewardesses were flying in all directions, focused on one seat about 5 rows back from where I was sitting. An announcement came over the speaker asking if there was a doctor on board and one was, but then started his mouth about getting paid of all things. It turns out that the woman that got on in Buffalo DIED in her seat. One stewardess had shoved the beverage cart so hard stuff flew off it and for people who were suuposedly trained in emergency procedures, they sure didn't act it. It was a rough flight and full to capacity, they had to leave her strapped in the seat but she flopped left and right with the pitching of the plane. We went through this about another hour or a little more before making an emergency landing in Atlanta.
As if this wasn't drama enough, the paramedics etc were waiting for the plane to land and with them was a guy from security, but wearing a suit with a gun and shoulder holster. His jacket came open and he said in a very loud voice "everyone off the plane" Someone shouted out "He's got a gun!!!" and suddenly everyone ran out of the plane and down the chute into the airport like deranged lemmings. Fortunately, I was so busy being airsick during the flight that I didn't even react to the death.
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