What’s the worst thing you can imagine happening to your plane? Late arrival? Blocked toilet? How about exploding engine mid-flight? It was already 10pm when we took of from SFO -> Munich, so we could see the flames engulfing number 1 engine as a series of explosions shook the fuselage. There were a lot of “Oh God, oh God”-s and the girl next to me went into full panic attack and required restraining.

I broke the rules and wrote a short note to the wife.

Fortunately the captain was able to shut the engine down, dump the fuel and get us back onto the ground.

A couple of stiff martinis in the hotel bar made everything OK