The most cool-headed address to passengers on a plane in distress.
This was said by Eric Moody, the captain of a Boeing 747 flying from Kuala Lumpur to Perth on June 24, 1982. All four engines had stalled due to the ash from a volcano that had suddenly erupted.
Eric Moody turned on the loudspeaker:
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is the captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines on our plane have stalled. We are doing our best to restart them. I hope this is not causing you too much concern."
British Airways Flight 9 was a long-haul service from London Heathrow to Auckland, New Zealand, with scheduled stops in Bombay (now Mumbai), Kuala Lumpur, Perth, and Melbourne. The flight that night was routine—at first.
The aircraft, with registration G-BDXH, departed Kuala Lumpur just before midnight local time. On board were 247 passengers and 16 crew members. Captain Eric Moody was in command, accompanied by First Officer Roger Greaves and Senior Engineer Officer Barry Townley-Freeman.
A strange sight at 37,000 feet
Cruising at 37,000 feet over the Indian Ocean south of Java, the crew noticed an unusual visual phenomenon. The windscreen appeared to be lit by a strange, white, starlike glow. Soon after, passengers observed flashes outside the windows, resembling fireworks.
The engines were eventually restarted. But while the plane was flying through a cloud of volcanic ash, its livery had been erased, and the windshield had become opaque. It was impossible to land using the instruments; 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.