While they might seem to be the most risky form of travel, the vast majority of flights go off without a hitch. Yet, when this TV personality found himself in that 1% on a Delta flight, he shared a “storytime” of his frightening experience.
Generally, when you’re on a plane, especially if you have a fear of flying, issues like power cuts and turbulence can be stressful. There are ways around turbulence, like choosing where you sit. But once the flight attendant announces that there’s turbulence, that feeling of dread never truly goes away.
In turn, Jerrold Smith II (@jerroldhtims) shared his experience on TikTok in a March clip that garnered 46,200 views.
He starts the TikTok by saying, “So I kind of almost died earlier this week.”
Sharing a screenshot of a news article about the event, he then reveals that he was on a Delta plane that lost power mid-flight. Before launching into his storytime, Smith thanks the crew who got them to the ground safely.
“It was probably the only time I actually participated in clapping once a plane landed,” he says.
Smith then says he had “obviously never heard of something like this happening,” explaining that he has taken “this exact flight” from Los Angeles to Dallas “like a million times for work.”
Usually, he says he sleeps on planes. But he says he woke up to an “alarmingly loud a– humming noise.”
While the flight attendants weren’t saying anything, he notes that they seemed to “scramble” up and down the aisles. At that point, WiFi had gone out, TVs had gone black, and the lights start to flicker. “Literally, no one was telling us s—,” Smith adds. Then, he claims that some turbulence occurred. In turn, the fight attendant finally said something.
They urged people not to panic and said they didn’t know what the noise was. The attendant also announced that they were beginning their descent into Dallas.
Then, Smith says he started to “freak out” because they were still meant to be one and a half hours away from Dallas.
At this point, the flight attendant finally told them the plane lost power and to brace for landing. Another huge red flag spotted by Smith was the flight attendants talking to people in the exit row. Panicking, Smith says he started texting his mom and wife, though he didn’t expect for the messages to go through. They did, however, and Smith added that he got a lot of panicked responses when he landed.
Where Did The Sound On The Delta Flight Come From?
His co-worker, who was also on the plane, did some research on the mysterious sound. Consequently, the co-worker discovered that the noise was seemingly an “emergency fail-safe.” On-screen was a screenshot detailing the definition of a Ram Air Turbine. According to SKYbrary, a Ram Air Turbine is a plane turbine, which is used as an emergency power source. It generates power from the airstream that’s based on the speed of a plane.
“Maybe I’ll just start paying more attention to them little pre-flight demonstrations from now on,” Smith quips. He adds that he was meant to be returning to Los Angeles, but “maybe I should just never get on a plane again and live in Dallas now.”
He continues, “And to make matters worse a little bit, all Delta did was send us a little apology email. I ain’t never drafted an email to them faster, like, I’mma need some reparations or something big dog.”
BroBible reached out to Smith and Delta by email and contact form, respectively.
What Did Commenters Say?
In the comments, many admitted that they would have reacted the same way.
“My soul would have left my body,” one said.
“IDK, this would’ve ended me temporarily,” a second added.
“As someone who takes the Delta LAX to DFW flight for work … I’m scared,” a third wrote.
And a fourth commented, “Just saw this as I debated flying home from LA to the Bay for the week. I think I will be taking the train or driving this time.”
“I’m about to be deathly afraid of planes now,” chimed in a fifth. “Because what is happening FR?”
What Happened On That Delta Flight?
A report by ABC7 identified the flight in question as Delta Flight 521. According to Delta, the cabin temporarily lost power.
In a statement, the airline told the outlet, “The crew followed established procedures to and quickly restore power. As a precaution, they declared an emergency and landed without incident, before continuing to the gate. The safety of our customers and people comes before all else and we sincerely apologize for the experience.”
The Federal Aviation Institution also told ABC7 that, more specifically, the flight had generator problems. Despite this, the flight landed safely.
In total, there were reportedly 131 passengers and six crew members on board.
@jerroldhtims This is a long one so bare with me, but I might not be getting on another flight anytime soon 😵💫 #storytime #travelstory #dallastx