After a passenger compared a strange intercom sound to “something between an orgasm and puking,” the phrase “mile high club” took on new significance.
Actor Emerson Collins captured the bizarre noise on camera and released a humorous video of it on Twitter earlier this month on a journey from Los Angeles to Dallas.
Collins said that the mysterious noises began before departure and remained despite attempts by the flight crew the whole way.
Collins said that the sound coming from the intercom system on this trip was like a cross between an orgasm and puking.
The mysterious sounds baffled the flight crew, and one attendant can be seen in the video telling passengers that they were checking into the problem over the intercom.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are aware that the public announcements are now being interrupted by an exceedingly grating sound, she added.
Please be patient with us; we realize this is a very strange anomaly and none of us are enjoying it. The flight deck is attempting to troubleshoot trying to turn it off.
So, while we find out how to turn it off, we do appreciate your patience for a few more seconds.
Collins, who recorded the whole flight to Dallas, expresses disappointment at the lack of a “landing climax” at the conclusion of the film.
We just landed, but I genuinely believed it would occur upon touch down.
Collins was certain that the noises were made by a person, while others thought the eerie moans may have been made by extraterrestrials.
An individual tweeted, “A ghost in the machine? Just to be sure, did you take a peek out onto the wings?
If this is the case, according to Collins, “the ghost in the machine has a great sense of humor.”
The timing of the comic noises looked much too deliberate to be the result of a simple technological error. However, I honestly have no clue.
Others who saw the video, which received 1.2 million views, pointed out that the event hadn’t only happened on the trip from Los Angeles to Dallas.
On an American Airlines aircraft in July, my wife and I had this encounter, one Twitter user said. To be honest, it just sounded like someone in excruciating agony moaning and groaning.
The crew said that it had previously occurred and that they had no explanation. 3 or 4 times early on in the flight, but then stopped.
Another Twitter user remarked: “It occurred on my trip from JFK to LAX on August 5 and I was on an older A321.”
“Flight 117,” I said. The same event occurred to flight crew who were aboard the same aircraft a few days earlier. Both humorous and scary, it was.
The event was a “mechanical problem,” American Airlines spokesperson Sarah Jantz told the Washington Post, noting that the airline’s intercom system is hardwired and devoid of any WiFi or external access points.
“After receiving the original allegation, our maintenance crew extensively investigated the aircraft and the PA system and found the noises were being produced by a technical problem with the PA amplifier, which increases the PA system’s level while the engines are operating,” she added.
The Santa Ana-Dallas flight on September 18 was the subject of the airline’s first report. The further complaints are being examined by our staff.