Daredevil Passengers Take Finnair Flight 666 To HEL On Friday The 13th
Finnair flight AY666 to HEL took off from Copenhagen today on Friday the 13th. HEL is the airport baggage code for Helsinki in Finland, the destination of the portentous flight that many consider the world’s most terrifying. But, according to the Finnair officials, flight 666 to HEL on Friday the 13th did not have any trouble finding daredevil passengers willing to obtain tickets for the inauspicious flight set up as if to tempt Satan the Devil.
The spooky flight got off to an ominous start, according to the Daily Mail. Finnair revealed that the flight left Copenhagen about a minute late.
“Flight 666 to HEL,” on a 13-year-old A350XWB jet, eventually took off from Copenhagen in Denmark at 12:15 GMT, according to RT, and landed safely in Helsinki (HEL), Finland, at 13:31 GMT, despite the dark swirl of superstitious fear, baleful foreboding and dread surrounding its uniquely unpropitious numerological circumstances.
And there might have been a 13-year-old born on Friday the 13th on board, and brave passengers on row 13, as Flightradar24 joked mischievously on Twitter.
“Would you dare to sit in row 13, on board Finnair flight 666 en route to Hel on Friday the 13th?”
Would you dare to sit in row 13, on board @Finnair flight 666 en route to HEL on Friday the 13th?https://t.co/lKujhSu0gP pic.twitter.com/fWIvQTMLjF
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) January 13, 2017
Finnair pilots told RT that the sinister ritual of flight AY666 to HEL has been running for a few years. The airline’s special Black Mass ritual for its daredevil passengers falls on Friday the 13th. It has become popular over the years with passengers jostling to participate in the ghoulish mid-air rite of passage to HEL.
The flight has also become a running joke among the airline’s staff.
“It has been quite a joke among the pilots,” Pilot Juha-Pekka Keidasto told RT. “I’m not a superstitious man. It’s only a coincidence for me.”
“If there’s some passenger who is anxious about this 666, our cabin crew is always happy to help them,” the pilot added.
Flight 666 to HEL on Friday the 13th in 2016 occurred on May 13. The flight landed about three minutes late, although it was a smooth and uneventful flight, according to Finnair officials.
But judging, based on the willingness of Finnair to retain the number 666, the number of the Prince of Darkness, as the numerical designation for its flight to HEL, Finnair managers aren’t superstitious. And judging, based on the popularity of Finnair’s Friday the 13th flight to HEL, the airline’s customers don’t rank among the most superstitious in the world either.
However, considering the fact that thousands of people around the world suffer an irrationally intense fear of flying even under the best conditions, it is likely that some of Finnair’s passengers are simply thrill seekers in need of an adrenaline rush every Friday the 13th.
Although unknown to most other cultures, fear of the number 13 is widespread in Western cultures.
Triskaidekaphobia is the fittingly baleful word reserved for it in the English language dictionary.
A superstitious fear focused particularly on Friday the 13th is called Paraskevidekatriaphobia. The word is derived from two Greek words: Paraskevi, meaning Friday, and dekatria, meaning 13.
The fear of the number 666, supposedly the number of Satan, manifested as the Antichrist, is derived from a single passage in the New Testament Book of Revelation.
“This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.” Revelation 13:18
Is it a coincidence that the number 666 is mentioned in the 13th chapter of the Book of Revelation?
There is also a word for phobia centered on the number 666: Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.
Needless to say, individuals suffering any of the phobias with unwieldy names mentioned above would do well to steer clear of Finnair’s unique version of Friday the 13th Black Mass.
[Featured Image by Nutkamol komolvanich/Shutterstock]
