Hat tip to Heels First Travel, with a story about 10 amazing flight attendants.
Here are 2 of my favorite stories:
Shortly into Qantas flight 1737, a passenger tried to enter the plane’s cockpit, with two wooden stakes, an aerosol can and a lighter. Seeing what was about to unfold, flight attendant Denise Hickson attempted to intercept the hijacker, who then stabbed her. Undeterred, purser Greg Khan followed suit and tried to take the man down. Despite being stabbed in the head twice, Khan continued to tackle the man until he restrained him.
“No sharp objects sign at Gatwick Airport” (Image credit: Edward Betts – Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.)
When Canjet flight 918 was hijacked in 2009, the bravery of flight attendants Santizo Arriola and Nicole Foren made them national heroes. Arriola convinced the hijackers to release all 159 passengers, keeping only the crew and a security contractor back as hostages. She also prevented the hijacker from incapacitating the remaining male hostages, persuading him that antacids were, in fact, sedatives. When the police came to storm the aircraft, Foren took the opportunity to seize the hijacker’s gun, which was being held to her head. It was an act of bravery that saved them all.
Read the full story for all 10 of them, including the flight attendants from the “Miracle on the Hudson” and the recent SFO Asiana crash.
What was your favorite story?
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One of the most memorable stories I recall is the crash of TWA843 from JFK-SFO which crash landed (on take-off) at JFK after having left the ground some 15 ft.
In spite of ending up on fire – the cabin crew (with the assistance of a number of off duty commuting FAs) got everyone out alive in certainly less than 3 minutes.
Here’s a link to some of their efforts:
http://www.twaflight843.com/evacuate.html
I spoke to one of the crew members years later and she credits the number of crew on board – and the super long runway at JFK (14572′) with contributing to the successful outcome that afternoon.