Heroes in the sky: The crew of Southwest 2294
Source: Examiner.com
Author: John Frenaye
We have seen some pretty miraculous landings for commercial planes over the past few months. Who can forget the scene of people standing knee-deep in the frigid waters of the Hudson River after Capt. Chesley "Sulley" Scullenberger piloted his craft (US Airways flight 1549) to a smooth landing where no plane is really designed to land? Even most of the luggage survived that one in tact.
Fast forward to July 13, 2009 when Southwest Airlines flight 2294 saw its fuselage tear apart at 30,000 feet enroute from Nashville to Baltimore. Like US Air 1549, Southwest 2294 made a safe landing in Charleston, West Virginia with no injuries.
Certainly the training and skill of these pilots were the main factors that landed both of these planes safely under some of the most extreme conditions. However, what about the back of the plane?
Each time I fly, I recognize the flight attendants for what they are. True heroes. More often than not, a passenger's interaction with a flight attendant is listening to the safety speech (and you should listen to it every time you fly regardless of how much you think you may know) and maybe getting a cocktail or soft drink. But where they shine is in an emergency.
Just like the pilots on the flight deck, these woefully underpaid professionals are at the top of their game. When a pilot flies a plane, you can see the extent of their professionalism. Not so much with flight attendants, unless you are on a plane with an emergency.
Often, they are just as clueless as the passengers (pilots tend to not have a lot of time to explain the details of an emergency when the plane is coasting to a river landing without engines or the cabin just decompressed at 30,000 feet). These heroes of the sky must spring into action and account for the passenger's safety before accounting for their own. Depending on the situation, they need to be able to deal with a medical emergency, passenger assistance, instructions, and evacuation.
While the pilots' skill saved the aircraft in both instances, it was the skill and professionalism of the flight attendants that likely saved the human cargo. The next time you are on a plane, just give that some thought and thank a flight attendant for all that he or she does--even if you may never get to witness it!
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