MANILA, Philippines — What an actor called the "scariest" flight of his life made a hero of a pilot.
Filipino netizens praised Captain Albert Jimenez who led PAL flight PR300 to safety in Hong Kong from Manila on Tuesday despite the extraordinarily turbulent ride due to Typhoon Kalmaegi, which came from the Philippines as cyclone "Luis."
The flight had 312 passengers.
PAL flight PR-300, pilot Hero..ng makalapag ito ng ligtas sa Hongkong sa gitna ng bagyo . pic.twitter.com/PGH6OCpAwi
— Ariel Fernandez (@dugoy12) September 16, 2014 Bravo Captain Jimenez of Philippine Airlines PR300 to HongKong for landing safely amid Typhoon Luis. (Carlos Celdran)
Galing nung pilot nung PAL na nag-land sa Hong Kong kanina. (Val Flores)
Good job, PAL Flight 300 Pilot Jimenez! (Shanine Lesaca)
Just heard the news of one PAL flights, just wow! salute to the pilot who made it to secure the passengers. (Justin Baguio)
Actor KC Montero recorded part of the rough ride on Instagram, reporting that passengers were "screaming" and people were throwing up. The panic was followed by applause as the pilots successfully maneuvered and landed the plane safely.
"I have to hand it to the pilot for being able to pull up, come around again and when we finally did land, the weather was still bad and people were still frightened but we were able to land," Montero said in an interview with dzMM on Tuesday.
Jimenez himself recounted the incident and the eventual landing.
"In Hong Kong International Airport, the weather was so severe. Actually, we were able to see the runway first hand at a distance of about ten miles. So there was good visibility, however, the wind condition was so severe," Jimenez said in an interview with ABS-CBN aired Tuesday night.
PAL, meanwhile, commended Jimenez in a statement posted on its Facebook page on Wednesday.