For many, the idea of getting in a giant metal bird and being propelled into the air at a speed no human should actually ever be going at is a terrifying prospect. Despite the fact that many more people are killed in cars, on bicycles, and even using a lawn mower, that doesn’t stop the fear. This story from actor Matthew McConaughey may either add to it or alleviate it.
The actor was on a Lufthansa flight with his wife Camila Alves and another friend when the plane unexpectedly dropped 4000 feet. He spoke of the horrifying experience while on the podcast Let’s Talk Off Camera on SiriusXM hosted by Kelly Ripa, detailing the sensation of plummeting that far that fast.
“It’s suspended disbelief. I mean, it’s zero gravity. Your red wine and the glass and the plates that your food was on are all suspended, floating, still just in the air. And to look at it for that long, which wasn’t that long – one, two, three, four (seconds) – and then everything just comes crashing down.”
McConaughey also revealed that he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt when he had this “hell of a scare” stating, “My tray table is what held me down. I did not have my seatbelt on, and there was not a seatbelt warning right before it happened.” Immediately after he “reached over, made sure Camila had her seatbelt on.” In such a moment as this, the actor had “a 100 percent feeling” that you “have no way to get control of this situation the moment.”
People all respond very differently in moments of panic or crisis like this and he recalled just how those on the plane responded to the situation,
“It was odd. You hear people’s reactions. Some people were ghost silent. Some people had big bursts of laughter. And it was not like, ‘Oh, this is fun.’ It was like, ‘I’m in shock.'”
The friend that McConaughey was traveling with just so happened to be a pilot, and so when the actor’s fear turned to the structural integrity of the plan after such a sudden descent he deferred to his friend on the matter,
“He was calm as could be. I was like, ‘Can the plane hold that?’ And he was like, ‘These things are so tested, that yes, don’t worry, the plane structurally can hold that.’ That was a big relief.”
Though his friend may have had confidence in the plane and in his own abilities, assuring McConaughey he could fly the plane if necessary, it seems the flight attendants were unable to keep up their usual mask of calm. “If you see the flight attendant not looking extremely confident, you’re like, ‘Uh-oh’… It was the hairiest flight I’ve ever had by far.”
We are glad that the actor was able to touch down safely back on solid ground, and that this wasn’t as bad as it could have potentially been. Though it bears to remember seatbelts are there for your safety, even if the seatbelt sign is turned off.