A WEST Fife couple were forced to evacuate after the plane they were travelling in went on fire at around 30,000 feet.
Sandra Thomson and her partner, Alan, used the safety slides to get out of the burning aircraft after a mid-air engine blaze forced the pilot to head back to Los Angeles and make an emergency landing.
They had already seen their journey home from New Zealand - where they had spent an enjoyable three weeks visiting Sandra's grand-daughter, Beth - disrupted by the conflict in Iran with their Qatar Airways flight cancelled.
But the drama didn't end there and the 'safer' alternative route back to Scotland, on board a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and flying via Australia and the USA, proved anything but.
Sandra, the former Dunfermline Press executive secretary, said: "We were close to Los Angeles when passengers noticed smoke pouring from one of the engines - it created quite a stir!
“The plane landed safely but the engine fire was getting worse and the cabin crew prepared everyone to use the safety slides.
“Considering the alarm that the engine fire caused, most people kept pretty calm.
"I got on to the slide only to find that someone in front of me had taken out a fair sized bag with them, which I banged against coming down the slide and I ended up cutting my hands.
“It was a bit sore, but I managed to get on to the runway area and to safety, as did everyone else, including Alan, but it was all a bit alarming.”
The United Airlines flight on Monday March 2 was heading east from LA to Newark when, about 20 minutes after take-off, flight crew declared an emergency and diverted back to LA after "suffering a reported engine fire".
There were 268 people on board, including 12 crew members, and Sandra said it was quite an operation to see the emergency evacuation from the aircraft.
Passengers, including the Cowdenbeath couple, slid out of the plane and ran across the runway as LA Fire Department crews moved in to tackle the fire.
Sandra added: “The vast majority of the passengers kept to the rule that you leave bags on the plane when exiting via the slide, but I was unlucky to be behind one that didn't and it meant I had sore hands for a few days, but the main thing was that we both got off safely.”
With the Middle East on a war footing, air traffic has been severely restricted in the area and the couple's flight back to Scotland was cancelled, forcing them to make another way home.
Their United Airlines alternative meant a return involving New Zealand to Melbourne, Los Angeles, New York, London and then Edinburgh.
Thankfully, while it took many hours of travelling to get back to Scotland, there was no more drama.
Now they're currently organising compensation claims for their cancelled Qatar flight home and in negotiations with United Airlines over an offer of compensation over the problems created by the engine fire.
Sandra is no stranger to adventure - although perhaps not on this scale - after trekking in Peru and completing the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu for the Finding Your Feet charity, as well as scaling 260 out of the 282 Munros in Scotland.
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