The most cold-blooded address to the passengers of a plane in distress.

It was spoken by Eric Moody, captain of a Boeing 747 that was flying on June 24, 1982 from Kuala Lumpur to Perth. Because of ash from an awakened volcano, all four engines stalled. 

 

Eric Moody turned on the loudspeaker: 

 

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is the captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines of our airliner have stopped. We are pulling out all the stops to get them running again. I hope this does not cause you too much inconvenience.” 

 

Eventually the engines were restarted. But while the plane was flying through a cloud of volcanic ash, its entire livery was stripped and the windshield became opaque. Instrument landing was impossible, as they had failed. 

 

Despite this, the plane was able to land by looking through narrow slits in the windshield. None of the 263 people on board were injured.