Stuck in an Allegiant Air jet on the tarmac at McCarren International Airport in the sweltering Las Vegas sun with no air conditioning for several hours, there was little else passengers could do but sing — wait for it — "I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly.
The small moment of levity was captured on video Sunday as Las Vegas passengers helplessly sat on the runway waiting for their flight to depart to Phoenix, according to KUUV-TV.
The television station aired the video, which was posted by Dustin Kaelberer, a passenger on the airplane. The video has now made its way through the usual social media circles.
Urgent: Is Obama Telling the Truth on IRS, Benghazi Scandals?
"Pretty much everybody was just, if you don't laugh about it, you cry," Kaelberer told KUUV-TV. You could hear the laughter when a passenger pulled out what appeared to be a cell phone with the song. Passengers slowly joined in and reached a high point at the song's chorus line.
While the song provided a lighter moment, sitting on the airplane with temperatures at 110 degrees in Las Vegas Sunday was no laughing matter, Kaelberer told KUUV-TV. He said several passengers became ill during the delay.
"People were getting nose bleeds, they were throwing up in the bathrooms because of the heat," Kaelberer told the television station.
Another passenger, Francine Gutierrez, told KSAZ-TV that the steamy conditions inside the airplane made conditions nearly unbearable.
"
Forty minutes turned into an hour," Gutierrez said of their wait. "It was extremely hot. We were asking flight attendants what was going on with the air. Everyone was really concerned about the heat."
"One of the passengers started getting a bloody nose from the heat so she rushed to the bathroom. Followed by her was another passenger that was starting to vomit," Gutierrez told KSAZ-TV.
Allegiant Air spokesman Brian Davis told KUUV-TV that the flight was delayed about four hours and passengers spent two stretches of more than an hour on the plane. He said passengers were provided free beverages and a $100 credit for future travel with Allegiant.
Allegiant is a small, low-cost airline with its corporate headquarters based in suburban Las Vegas. It flies out of destinations in Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, South Carolina and Washington state.
Urgent: Is Obama Telling the Truth on IRS, Benghazi Scandals?
Related stories:
American Airlines Flight Grounded Amid Computer Malfunction
'I Will Always Love You' Singer Grounds American Airline Flight