I remember a flight EWR-BUF on PE. We took off OK and kept flying. Then one of the pilots came sauntering out of the cockpit, whistling softly, and preceeded to lift up a hatch that was in the middle of the aisle (727). I never knew that hatch was there, though I must have walked over it many times.

Anyhow, he disappears into the lower bowels of the a/c while we all watched, a little dumbstruck. Then climbed back up, re-secured the hatch, and sauntered back to the cockpit.

Eventually, we got an announcement that we were heading back to EWR. Something about the wheels might be down or might not - at any rate, they didn't know for sure. So there we were, all in the crash position, and as we're approaching I notice the runway is lined with emergency equipment. How nice! Just for us, I assumed.

As it turned out, we landed safely and trundled another 727 out for us to continue the trip.

I got back on. A lot of folks didn't.