HP employees are flying from Sacramento to San Jose… A woman apparently jumped out of the plane. The pilot closes the plane door, but this is the weird part of the story:
The FBI said two passengers who saw Otto plunge from the plane were so distraught that they were unable to communicate to the pilots what had happened. Police were not notified she was missing until 45 minutes after the plane landed in San Jose on Thursday night.
There were only 5 people in this plane… how in the world were none of them able to communicate to the crew that A WOMAN FELL OUT OF THE AIRPLANE!?!
The crew never knew what happened until after it landed in san jose 45 minutes later! Weird. Just weird.
However traumatic it might be to have a body land on your house, I think it’s sort of sick to worry about that more than the fact that a woman met her death in so horrible a fashion.
I don’t understand something… if 2 of the passengers were too distraught to tell the pilots, what of the other 2? What kept them from screaming “A woman just fell out of the freaking plane!!”
45 minutes? And they couldn’t bring themselves to say “Hey she jumped!” to the pilot? There’s got to be more to this story.
“The FBI said two passengers who saw Otto plunge from the plane were so distraught that they were unable to communicate to the pilots what had happened. Police were not notified she was missing until 45 minutes after the plane landed in San Jose on Thursday night”
According to the story I read, not only did the report reach police 45 minutes after the plane landed, the call came from one of the HP buildings in Santa Clara.
So: This distraught person was a co-worker (though that doesn’t necessarily mean they knew each other), who went back to work before deciding to call the police.
The only explanation I can come up with is that the passengers said it to one of the pilots but that the pilot didn’t hear them (I don’t konw how loud these small planes are) and so the passengers thought that authorities had been told and the pilots continued on clueless.
But this doesn’t really work. That plane had only made one unscheduled landing because the door had been ajar and the indicator light went on. Did this light not go on again when the woman jumped? And who closed the door after her (I’ll assume she didn’t).
A radio report just moments ago said that mechanical failure and “nefarious actions” have been ruled out.
Sounds to me like they tried to tell the pilots and they misunderstood:**
Allen tried to restrain Otto, who was halfway out the door, by grabbing her shoulder and arm. But, Black said: ``Due to the awkwardness and the wind and the movement of the plane, he was only able to hold on for several moments before losing grip.’’
The co-pilot then came out of the cockpit again and secured the door. The passengers tried to tell the co-pilot what had happened, and he reportedly responded with words to the effect of ``OK, I’ll take care of it,’’ the source said.
But amid the cacophony of the roaring wind and engines, the co-pilot may not have understood what the passengers had told him.**
Weird story.
I couldn’t open the driver’s side door of my pickup once, when the wind was blowing about 50 mph against it. Had to go around to the passenger side to get in.
My God, that poor woman must have been incredibly determined.
I am, and it’s keeping me alive.