An air hostess has sued the airline she works for following a heavy landing that she claims was too bumpy.
Cassandra Reddin
An Aer Lingus air hostess is suing the airline following an allegedly very heavy landing in which she thought she was going to die.
Daily Mail reports that 32-year-old Cassandra Reddin told Dublin's High Court: 'I thought we were all dead – that the aeroplane was not going to stop. I was shaking.'
Ms Reddin claims the Malaga-to-Dublin flight she was working on landed far too fast and hard.
She told the court how safety leaflets flew out of chairs and passengers' bottles smashed as the plane bounced along the runway.
She said she thought the plane was going to overshoot the runway altogether as it then taxied along at an unusually high speed. She said she had been amazed that the plane had landed at all.
Ms Reddin said it had been unstable, 'rocking from side to side' and 'bumpy' on the approach to Dublin, even after the landing gear was lowered.
Daily Mail reports that 32-year-old Cassandra Reddin told Dublin's High Court: 'I thought we were all dead – that the aeroplane was not going to stop. I was shaking.'
Ms Reddin claims the Malaga-to-Dublin flight she was working on landed far too fast and hard.
She told the court how safety leaflets flew out of chairs and passengers' bottles smashed as the plane bounced along the runway.
She said she thought the plane was going to overshoot the runway altogether as it then taxied along at an unusually high speed. She said she had been amazed that the plane had landed at all.
Ms Reddin said it had been unstable, 'rocking from side to side' and 'bumpy' on the approach to Dublin, even after the landing gear was lowered.
She recounted that she cried the whole evening at home afterwards, and that she was in shock. According to her, the next day, she could not move her neck, and that she later developed panic attacks. She said she now works in the social media section of Aer Lingus.
Her counsel, Finbarr Fox SC, said Ms Reddin, an experienced cabin crew member whose lifetime ambition had been to work in that job, suffered back, neck and shoulder injuries following the incident on November 19, 2009, and had to take a significant time off work.
He said it was alleged that the landing was 'well short of what a competent pilot ought to have managed', even allowing for the 'blustery' weather at the time.
Mr Fox said the plane was swaying from side to side as it came in to land, and was 'plainly not stable'. He said the pilot should have aborted the landing, and tried again.
'He had a very simple option which he ought to have exercised, and which he was mandated to do by his own protocol, which was quite simply to go around, have another go and get it right before coming in,' counsel said.
Mr Fox said that 'you can imagine the degree of chaos and distress aboard the cabin' following the heavy landing.
However Aer Lingus has denied the allegations. The case continues before the judge, Mr Justice Michael Hanna.
Her counsel, Finbarr Fox SC, said Ms Reddin, an experienced cabin crew member whose lifetime ambition had been to work in that job, suffered back, neck and shoulder injuries following the incident on November 19, 2009, and had to take a significant time off work.
He said it was alleged that the landing was 'well short of what a competent pilot ought to have managed', even allowing for the 'blustery' weather at the time.
Mr Fox said the plane was swaying from side to side as it came in to land, and was 'plainly not stable'. He said the pilot should have aborted the landing, and tried again.
'He had a very simple option which he ought to have exercised, and which he was mandated to do by his own protocol, which was quite simply to go around, have another go and get it right before coming in,' counsel said.
Mr Fox said that 'you can imagine the degree of chaos and distress aboard the cabin' following the heavy landing.
However Aer Lingus has denied the allegations. The case continues before the judge, Mr Justice Michael Hanna.
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