Stay Calm... We're All Gonna Die!

Virgin Atlantic has launched an investigation into claims a flight attendant aboard a flight from London-Gatwick to Las Vegas earlier this week panicked when the Boeing 747 hit severe turbulence.

The aircraft was hit by storms and plummeted thousands of feet within seconds, hurling one man to the ceiling and causing general disarray onboard the jumbo jet. According to The Independent, however, passengers were mostly calm... until the flight attendant reportedly began to, well, freak out.

"We're crashing, we're crashing, we're crashing!" the flight attendant repeatedly shouted -- sending passengers into a frenzy.

"I turned round to look at our hostess for reassurance and she screamed: 'We're crashing, we're crashing, we're crashing'," passenger Claire Daley told the London paper. "And I just thought: 'It's over; if an air hostess is telling us we are crashing'. I really thought we were crashing."

The flight attendant reportedly screamed every time the plane dipped -- and when she screamed, all the passengers in the back of the plane joined her.

"It was terrifying. I was almost hyperventilating," said Daley. "I was sobbing -- I thought we weren't going to make it."

Commercial aircraft are tested to limits several times greater than what are typically encountered in even the most extreme conditions.

Having been on a few rollicking flights ourselves, though, ANN is inclined to give the FA the benefit of the doubt... except that attendants are trained to keep their composure, even when those around them panic.

Virgin Atlantic confirmed the flight has encountered severe turbulence, and said reports of the flight attendant's behavior were being investigated.

FMI: www.virginatlantic.com, www.fearofflyinghelp.com