Don't panic! We're Australians!

On the radio and TV this morning, various reporters and commentators did their best to talk up the human tragedy of the Qantas airliner problem. A large hole appeared in the fuselage of a Qantas Airways Boeing 747-400, with 346 passengers and 19 crew on board. The plane was diverted to Manila shortly after leaving Hong Kong and landed safely. Everyone got off and that was that. However, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the media was hoping for something more spectacular to happen.

Suggestions of panic amongst the passengers was quickly dispelled by those passengers interviewed. On BBC News, Simon McCoy just assumed there was panic. No panic, came the reply from an Australian passenger who had been located to give his views.

Phill Restall, from the UK, was woken "with a jolt" by the loud bang before the plane descended rapidly. "No-one panicked, there was no screaming. It wasn't your typical television movie," he told the BBC News website. "Everyone listened to the cabin staff."

So no heroics from a Jean-Claude Van Damme type then. However, the BBC quote Mr.Restall as saying, "Seeing the hole caused a lot of emotion. People were physically shaking". So he had two versions? Or was his first not dramatic enough?

I feel that we are so used to the crises and dramas of life, that an ordinary response is not what is expected. The media should have been around in Biblical times to witness the wailing and gnashing of teeth. What a world!

The passengers were safely landed by a crew who knew what they were doing. I say bravo to that!