# Questions about faking a heart attack! (Air Transat Incident) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 2, 2017, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-faking-a-heart-attack-air-transat-incident/792620 "2017-08-02T11:07:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-faking-a-heart-attack-air-transat-incident/792620/41 "2017-08-03T16:34:53Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Since when do [Air Transat airplanes need fuel, anyway?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transat_Flight_236) They’d save a lot of money flinging them into the air with a catapult to let them glide the rest of the flight. Who even needs engines? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-faking-a-heart-attack-air-transat-incident/792620/42 "2017-08-03T17:13:31Z")
Since this incident, I keep thinking of the episode of _ **Cabin Pressure** _ (BBC Radio comedy with Benedict Cumberbatch as a pilot). They need to land (to save a customer’s cat…) but are told to hold or divert, by which time they will have a former cat. The co-pilot flicks on his pocket lighter and says “Sir, I smell smoke. Do you?” The episode ends there, but the presumption is that they’ll be told to land immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-faking-a-heart-attack-air-transat-incident/792620/43 "2017-08-03T18:00:30Z")
Also reminds me of this old Internet yarn: [Response Time | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/crime/safety/response.asp) In the U.S., the airline has to let you off the plane after, at most, four hours if you’re delayed on the tarmac unless it can’t for “safety, security, or air traffic control-related reasons,” which is admittedly a pretty damn big loophole: [Aviation Consumer Protection | US Department of Transportation](https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/flights-and-rights) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-faking-a-heart-attack-air-transat-incident/792620/44 "2017-08-04T21:45:56Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I was going to say… it easily could have been a panic attack. I had a short period of time where I suffered from them, and being stuck on a public transportation unexpectedly with no avenue of “escape” would start triggering them. (I was able to control them just enough, though, not to go into full-blown panic mode. Oddly, as long as the vehicle was moving, it was fine, but being stuck in between subway stations would cause my pulse to rise and my head to get a bit cloudy) I have little doubt that if the airplane situation happened during that time period where I was susceptible to them, it would have triggered one. Yes, the articles mentions people (seemingly at least) having panic attacks, and a child getting sick. I carry Ativan on plane flights anyway in case of panic – I’d probably be heavily sedated by the time I would be allowed off. They can bill me for having to carry me off the plane. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-faking-a-heart-attack-air-transat-incident/792620.md?page=2)