Heroes at 39,000 ft
This was supposed to be in a book, but I took it off till another time. I wanted instead now to post as a blog. Often we take for granted our crews. Please do not when you fly.
Dedicated to my heroes in the sky everyday. A look at Flight Attendants many often taken for granted.
Table of Contents
What is a Hero? Flight Attendant History and Roles part 1 Flight Attendants Today and Role part 2 and 911 Flight Attendant Heroes of today. Credits
Chapter 1
What is a Hero?
Anyone have had any favorite super heroes as a child? Mine was Superman, and later Superwomen. They both could do nearly anything, and their eyes could see through what the rest could not. In modern popular fiction, a superhero (sometimes rendered super-hero or super hero) is a type of hero character possessing extraordinary talents, supernatural phenomena, or superhuman powers and dedicated to protecting the public. A female superhero is sometimes called a superheroine (also rendered super-heroine or super heroine). Fiction centered around such characters, especially in American comic books since the 1930s, is known as superhero fiction. Superheroes often capture essential truths about human nature. That's why, I think, many people like superhero stories. We resonate with the themes in the stories, with the dilemmas and problems that superheroes face, and we aspire to their noble impulses and heroic acts. We identify-or would like to identify-with them (although some times me way identify with the villains). Superheroes are models for us, and they are modeled after us.
What is a Hero?
As we all hear the word "hero" used from time to time, have you ever asked yourself the question, "What is a hero, anyway?" I have asked that question many times. As I inquired into this more, and have spoken to many people about this, others also came up for me: Is a hero someone we simply admire, respect, look up to? Is a hero some kind of "superhero" with "super powers?" Does it take a lot of money and fame to be a hero? What's involved in being a hero? Can we call ourselves a hero? Why do we have such a weird relationship to the word "hero?" You may have asked yourself these same questions. And we will be exploring this subject more in the future days and weeks on this blog. So, let's start now by looking at the concept of "hero" and "heroism." While there are many interpretations of what a hero is, I have adopted the definition used by the Heroic Imagination Project: Heroes are people who transform compassion (a personal virtue) into heroic action (a civic virtue). In doing so, they put their best selves forward in service to humanity. A hero is as an individual or a network of people that take action on behalf of others in need, or in defense of integrity or a moral cause. Heroic action is: Engaged in voluntarily; Conducted in service to one or more people or the community as a whole; Involving a risk to physical comfort, social stature, or quality of life; and Initiated without the expectation of material gain. When you consider this interpretation, you can really get that heroism is the other side of the coin — the opposite — of bystander behavior. When you voluntarily engage in an activity that is in service to someone else, or the community as a whole, and you take a risk in doing so AND do it without any expectation of material gain: you are a hero! You are not a bystander. Heroism is not random acts of kindness, as great as they are. Heroism is very distinct. A hero is not someone you simply admire or respect. A hero is a very distinct person. Each and every day around us, there are those who need a hero: If a child is being bullied at school — or even an adult being bullied at the workplace — they need a hero. If someone has had too much to drink and they are about to drive, they — and everyone that their driving may impact — need a hero. If someone is being sexually "hit on" and has not given consent, they need a hero. If a group of students are being hazed — physically, emotionally or otherwise — they need a hero. If an inappropriate or offensive comment is spoken, those impacted need a hero. Now, truth be told, we all want to be heroes. We all want to make that difference in that moment of time that will dramatically impact the situation and even foster change. Keep someone safe. Keep others safe. Stand up for what is right and just.
Think of a time when you were able to make this kind of difference for someone else. What did it feel like? What was that experience like? I promise, if you allow yourself to really experience this, you will be inspired — by yourself!
Heroes of the past An ordinary nurse becomes a nation's heroine! Edith Cavell was an ordinary nurse who became a national heroine during World War 1 by helping soldiers escape from captivity; she was executed for this by the German authorities
Mr. Marshall became the first African-American to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. He not only worked his way to the pinnacle of the U.S. legal system but did so during the tumultuous times of the civil rights movement. When the U.S. was still struggling to understand what equality meant between whites and blacks, it took some history-setting steps by individuals to pave the way. Mr. Marshall did just that and continued to serve on the court for the next 24 years, taking part in memorable cases that today define U.S. civil rights and criminal procedure.
Clara Barton Not only did she serve and survive the Civil War, but Ms. Barton went on to create the Red Cross, which today enlists over a million volunteers in the U.S. to fulfill healthcare needs to those who need it most. Ms. Barton used her experiences caring for soldiers while at war to convince President Chester Arthur in 1873 for the need of a U.S. Red Cross group. The Red Cross provides natural disaster relief, medical attention to military services and is the largest provider of blood to hospitals nationwide. Ms. Barton’s decision to lead the Red Cross in the 1800s today saves millions of lives in hospitals across the country. You can thank Ms. Barton next time you know someone receiving blood for their care.
Today our Heroes are; A partial article from CNNHeroes Sept 11, 2014 By Marissa Calhoun, CNN Capt. Greg Galeazzi joined the Army seven years ago, he was well aware of the risks he would face. "Of course you accept that injuries or death is a possibility," Galeazzi said. "This is what happens to soldiers who fight wars." In 2011, that possibility became Galeazzi's reality. While leading his platoon on a routine morning patrol, an improvised explosive device detonated beneath him. "It felt like I got hit by a wrecking ball," he said.
Musicorps matches injured troops with professional musicians. Though Galeazzi survived the blast, life as he knew it did not. Suddenly, he was a double, above the knee amputee and had a severely wounded right arm. "I was a shell of a man," he said. "Who I was, was gone." Before his injuries, playing the guitar had been a special pastime for Galeazzi. "Music has always been important to me," he said. "I felt a deep sadness because I thought I'd lost my ability to play music." Galeazzi began to see things differently when he joined MusiCorps, a music rehabilitation program for severely wounded soldiers who are recovering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. "We match the injured troops with professional musicians," said Arthur Bloom, who founded the program in 2007. "They help wounded warriors play music and recover their lives." Our Heroes- Vets, Current Military,Firefighters,Police Officers,Nurses,. It is also Ordinary people doing extraordinary things. I would also declare we have other Heroes, often overlooked taken for granted. They are Flight Attendants. They are my heroes for various reasons.
Chapter 2 The History of the Flight Attendant and the roles
The first flight attendants were couriers, and they began sometime in the early 20's with passenger air travel being birthed.The couriers were the sons of businessmen who had invested in the airlines. These couriers worked till mid 1920s about when the stock market crashed. Around this time it was the copilot was required to assist the pilot in command as well serve food and drinks. Around the early part of the 1930's Western Air was the first to hire stewards(male helpers). In the late 30’s United Airlines, being the first, had hired stewardess, female helpers. These stewardess were registered nurses and the idea was that the passengers would feel much safer in the hands of the stewardess. Their responsibilities included attending to those who became air sick. Back in those days, the airplanes mostly DC-3, were very noisy and not as comfortable.
STEWARDESSES & POPULAR CULTURE The news media, novelists, and filmmakers have been fascinated with flight attendants since the first “sky girls” began looking after passengers in 1930. Below are some highlights from the many newspaper and magazine features, and novels and films, from the 1930s to the present that created a rich legacy of popular stereotypes, some flattering and some not so flattering, surrounding flight attendants.
The Press 1933: An icon is born America had a new icon of femininity, declared the Toledo Sunday Times: the airline stewardess “goes to work 5,000feet above the earth, rushing through space at a rate of three miles a minute. She has been eulogized, glorified,publicized, and fictionalized during her comparatively short existence. She has become the envy of stenographers inNew York and farmers’ daughters in Iowa. She seems to be on the way to becoming to American girlhood whatpolicemen, pilots, and cowboys are to American boyhood.”
1936: Űber-women aloft An article in Literary Digest from 1936, titled “Flying Supermen and Superwomen,” noted that airlines put as muchextraordinary care into selecting their stewardesses as they did with pilots. Would intermarriage between the twogroups, the article breathlessly asked, yield “a race of superior Americans”?
1943: What more could you want? No wonder stewardesses received such favorable attention from the press and the public. As a female writer for Independent Woman admiringly concluded, they exuded "the skill of a Nightingale, the charm of a Powers model and the kitchen wisdom of a Fanny Farmer"—an ideal blend of traditional and modern femininity. 1955: Playboy’s “Miss December” United stewardess Barbara Cameron posed for Playboy Magazine as “Miss December” in 1955. She appeared again exactly three years later as the “The Girl Next Door” in the line-up of “most popular playmates” marking the magazine’s fifth anniversary. A notable departure from the usually very respectable stewardess mystique of the postwar era, and a foreshadowing of the reputation for promiscuity that female flight attendants would acquire, through little effort of their own, by the 1970s. 1958: “Glamor Girls of the Air” When American Airlines opened a new stewardess training facility, Life Magazine marked the occasion with a tributeto flight attendants, “Glamor Girls of the Air: For Lucky Ones Being Hostess is the Mostest,” which perfectly captured the postwar vision of stewardesses ascosmopolitan brides-in-training. On Life’s cover were two brightly smiling stewardesses, and inside were trainees preparing for “one of the most coveted careers open to young American women today.” “The job they want does not pay extraordinarily well, only $255 to $355 a month. The life is irregular and theopportunities for promotion are small. But the chance to fly, to see the world and meet all sorts of interesting people—mostly the kind of men who can afford to travel by plane—gives the job real glamor.” Movies Coffee, Tea or Me? (1967) Coffee, Tea or Me? The Uninhibited Memoirs of Two Airline Stewardesses was the first and most successful entry in what became a popular genre of “swinging” stewardess literature. It was not, as promoted, the memoirs of stewardesses Trudy Baker and Rachel Jones, but a novel ghostwritten by Donald Bain (as a 2003 reprint acknowledged) and then promoted by two flight attendants who posed as Baker and Jones. The book was marketed nonetheless as “authentic,” as well as “wacky” and “naughty.” It eventually sold more than one million copies and was followed by three more romps, The Coffee, Tea or Me Girls’ Round-the-World Diary (1970), The Coffee, Tea or Me Girls Lay It on the Line (1972), and The Coffee, Tea or Me Girls Get Away From it All (1974). A film adaptation of the original Coffee, Tea or Me? appeared on television in 1973, with Karen Valentine starring as a stewardess with two husbands, one on each coast. Compared to imitators, Coffee, Tea or Me? offered a relatively tame “insider” view of the occupation. The novel devoted plenty of pages to stewardesses’ work culture along with romance, and left sexual activity to the reader’s imagination. Paperbacks and films that followed about “swinging” stewardesses featured more naughtiness and less authenticity.
The Stewardesses 3-D (1969) The most successful of the many semi-pornographic and soft- and hard-core porn films to feature the supposedly swinging hostesses of the Mile High Club. The filmmakers describe it as the most profitable 3-D film in history, with long runs initially in San Francisco and New York and then wider release of a re-edited version in 1971. [The film just might be coming to a theater near you, if the filmmakers have their way: www.thestewardesses.com] Similar fare, without the 3-D flourishes, appeared soon after in the descriptively titled Swinging Stewardesses, Naughty Stewardesses, and Blazing Stewardesses.
How to Make a Good Airline Stewardess (1972) The cover of Cornelius Wohl’s cheeky, lavishly illustrated compendium of stew-hunting advice proclaimed, “First Coffee, Tea or Me? — Now this expert guide to the luscious stews of every airline you’re likely to fly.” Bill Wenzel, a veteran illustrator of Esquire Magazine, rendered thirty-seven “typical” stewardesses from various airlines in both their uniforms and completely unclothed. Merely one of the more lascivious paperbacks (most by a handful of male authors) to capitalize on the success of Coffee, Tea, or Me? in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Airport 1975 (1974) Sequel to the highly successful Airport (1970), the first, path-breaking example of the disaster films of the 1970s. The original had a prominent flight attendant character, but in the sequel, a stewardess actually finds herself piloting a plane in crisis after its cockpit crew are killed—at least until the Air Force can rescue the remaining crew and passengers. To be a Stewardesses in the early days- The airlines as part of their hiring practices required the women to take an oath in which they would not marry nor have children. If an attendant was to get married and or have a child the airlines would terminate their employment with the airline. Although, by the mid 40's the airlines experienced a high turn over in stewardess to marriage. By the 1960's, the flight stewardess were dressed in miniskirts and hot pants.This was a very turbulent time for the country and the airlines. Women were fighting for there rights,As a result of the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Rights Act, Blacks were able to file anti discrimination suits and males began breaking into the industry providing passenger care on the airlines. By now the name of the stewardess had changed to reflect male attendants, they are now called flight attendants.
Chapter 3 The Flight Attendants Today and their role. The basic responsibilities , and role of the Flight Attendant today are first centered in safety and security, especially after 911. Responsibilities included with a warm, friendly welcome ; 1) Announce and demonstrate safety and emergency procedures such as the use of oxygen masks, seat belts, and life jackets.
2) Answer passengers' questions about flights, aircraft, weather, travel routes and services, arrival times, and/or schedules.
3) Assist passengers in placing carry-on luggage in overhead, garment, or under-seat storage. FAA forbids FAs from doing it for the passenger.
4) Assist passengers while entering or disembarking the aircraft.
5) Attend preflight briefings concerning weather, altitudes, routes, emergency procedures, crew coordination, lengths of flights, food and beverage services offered, and numbers of passengers.
6) Check to ensure that food, beverages, blankets, reading material, emergency equipment, and other supplies are aboard and are in adequate supply.
Flight Attendant Training Depending on the carrier training can be 8 and a half weeks to as little as three weeks. It is intense, a lot of information you will study and must know in a small amount of time. The rules are strict as the FA is the face of the airline. The job is a serious one. You can have as little as 40 people graduating 28, or as many as 75 and graduation all on very few occasions to 60. The screening process is intense as well, and is meant to be somewhat stressful, although during the interviews they really do want you to be comfortable and to meet the real you. Keep in mind they are looking for those whom they see as a great fit for their culture The days are usually 6 days a week one day off and the days are long from 10-12 hours in class. not including lunch and dinner breaks, and back to hotel time. I recall as we studied most days it was 2-3 hours sleep., day off got 5 hours sleep. Trainees are monitored at hotel or on campus training facility for professional conduct and compliance. How you interact with everyone is vital, and is also monitored. Some have called this Barbie Boot Camp. I do not know about the Barbie but yes it is intense like boot camp, and crashing for finales nearly every day
American 11 (Boston to Los Angeles) Crashed into World Trade Center John Ogonowski, Dracut, Mass., Captain; Thomas McGuinness, Portsmouth, N.H., First Officer; Barbara Arestegui, flight attendant; Jeffrey Collman, flight attendant; Sara Low, flight attendant; Karen Martin, flight attendant; Kathleen Nicosia, flight attendant; Betty Ong, flight attendant; Jean Roger, flight attendant; Dianne Snyder, flight attendant; Madeline Sweeney, flight attendant
United 175 (Boston to Los Angeles) Crashed into World Trade Center Victor J. Saracini, Lower Makefield Township, Pa., Captain; Michael Horrocks, First Officer; Amy Jarret, flight attendant; Al Marchand, flight attendant; Amy King, flight attendant; Kathryn Laborie, flight attendant; Michael Tarrou, flight attendant; Alicia Titus, flight attendant
American 77 (Washington/Dulles to Los Angeles) Crashed into the Pentagon Charles Burlingame, Captain; David Charlebois, First Officer; Michele Heidenberger, flight attendant; Jennifer Lewis, flight attendant; Kenneth Lewis, flight attendant; and Renee May, flight attendant
United 93 (Newark to San Francisco) Crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania Jason Dahl, Colorado, Captain; Leroy Homer, Marlton, N.J., First Officer; Sandy Bradshaw, flight attendant; CeeCee Lyles, flight attendant; Lorraine Bay, flight attendant; Wanda Green, flight attendant; Deborah Welsh, flight attendant
A great Article I found Heroes of the Skies- By Nicole Gelinas September 10, 2014 | 10:51pm On this 9/11, spare a thought for flight attendants. Thirteen years ago, they were among the heroes in the sky. But even on an everyday basis, these women and men rarely get credit for showing grace under the pressure of some of the toughest jobs in the world. In the 9/11 attacks, 25 flight attendants — 20 women and five men — died in the line of duty. The oldest was Lorraine Bay, 58, on Flight 93, which took off from Newark and crashed in Pennsylvania. The youngest was Jean Rogér, 24, on Flight 11, which left from Boston before the terrorists took over, hitting the World Trade Center’s north tower. The dead included husband and wife Kenneth and Jennifer Lewis on Flight 77, which left Washington before hijackers crashed it into the Pentagon. Renée May, 39, on Flight 77, was pregnant. Her listing on the 9/11 Memorial reads “Renée A. May and her unborn child.” The flight attendants showed incredible presence of mind on 9/11, even as they had to know that they were in mortal danger. On Flight 11, attendants Madeline Sweeney, Sara Low and Betty Ann Ong teamed up to call their American Airlines colleagues on the ground. They explained what was happening and even described the people who had taken over their plane, helping investigators confirm that terror attacks were underway. On Flight 93, the information that flight attendants garnered from similar conversations with people on the ground helped the crew and passengers decide to overtake the hijackers, avoiding more civilian deaths. But beyond the heroics, attendants have had a tough decade. After 9/11, countless people avoided flying altogether. New York’s three major airports saw yearly passenger traffic fall by 11.2 million people, or a whopping 12 percent, from 2000 to 2002. But if flight crews wanted to keep their jobs, they had to get back in the air. They had to help anxious passengers and live through false alarms even as they, too, scanned for potential terrorists. That is, if they kept their jobs. Despite federal bailouts, 9/11 crushed America’s airlines — and the industry took another big hit after the housing bubble ended. In 2000, 126,380 people worked in the United States as flight attendants. By 2003, more than 22,000 people had lost their jobs; those left numbered 104,360. And the job losses didn’t stop. Today, 93,550 people work as flight attendants, nearly 33,000 fewer than in 2000. Flight attendants, unionized or not, also took pay and hours cuts. Today, the average wage is $43,860, below the $45,220 flight attendants earned in 2000, even as the cost of living has gone up. Domestic airlines have dealt with a tough decade by packing ever-smaller planes more tightly, discouraging people from checking bags and ending in-flight meals. Who suffers? The flight crew. Attendants have to deal with people who bring all of their earthly belongings onto a single-aisle jet, with parents who somehow have failed to learn that their small children have small bladders and that planes sometimes encounter runway delays and with bigger Americans who fight with each other for smaller seat spaces. And though attendants on international flights have fared better, they, too, face pressure. Newer airlines from the Middle East and Asia, often subsidized by their governments, are now competing with US carriers on the most lucrative long-haul flights. They can pay their Third World-dwelling crews much lower salaries. For all that, flight attendants are expected to look like strippers — despite living lives of constant dehydration, inner-ear damage and unpredictable sleep schedules thanks to ever-changing hours, jet lag and bad hotels. Who hasn’t heard some clever idiot make the joke that 40 years ago, before deregulation and cost-cutting, flight attendants were younger, skinnier and prettier? “What happened to hot stewardesses?” mused one wag back in 2011, commiserating with a colleague who’d noted “the decline in physical appeal of flight attendants.” You can bet that 13 years ago, the attendants who used whispered phone calls to help the world understand what had happened to them — and to the world — weren’t worried about their lipstick. Or maybe they were — flight attendants know how to do two things at once. Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal.
Flight Attendant Heroes every day
Flight attendant's primary role is to ensure passenger safety. This means far more than simply ensuring all electronic devices are turned off on takeoff, everyone is in the correct seat with their seatbelt fastened, and lavatory smoke detectors are not disabled. "Prior to each flight, flight attendants attend a safety briefing with the pilots and lead flight attendant. During this briefing they go over safety and emergency checklists, the locations and amounts of emergency equipment and other features specific to that aircraft type. Boarding particulars are verified, such as special needs passengers, small children travelling as unaccompanied or VIPs. Weather conditions are discussed including anticipated turbulence. Prior to each flight a safety check is conducted to ensure all equipment such as life vests, torches and firefighting equipment are on board, in the right quantity, and in proper condition. Any unserviceable or missing items must be reported and rectified prior to takeoff. They must monitor the cabin for any unusual smells or situations. They assist with the loading of carry-on baggage, checking for weight, size and dangerous goods. They then must do a safety demonstration or monitor passengers as they watch a safety video. They then must "secure the cabin" ensuring tray tables are stowed, seats are in their upright positions, armrests down and carry-ons stowed correctly and seat belts fastened prior to takeoff. 3 Flight Attendants today face daily, an array of grumpy businessmen, intoxicated travelers, misbehaving children and simply rude individuals. With each takeoff and landing, add to these challenges a new and far greater danger to passengers, crew and aircraft.Since the events of 9/11 flight attendants have become- by default- the airlines' first responders not only to issues of safety onboard, but by circumstance responsibility for security of the aircraft, its passengers and crew while in-flight.
Chapter 4 Flight Attendant Heroes Today Flight attendant heroes: coffee, tea or a defibrillator? Roy Harris usually was able to fly straight home to Nashville. But on a chilly day in late January, Harris, 57, found himself waiting for a connecting flight at Chicago's Midway Airport. He took off his coat. He reached for his BlackBerry. The next thing Harris remembers, he was lying in a hospital, recovering from a massive heart attack. Sitting beside him was Rachael Jacobs, a flight attendant for Southwest (LUV), who, back at Midway, called for the defibrillator that ultimately saved Harris' life. "I wake up and … the first person I see is this flight attendant," says Harris, a minister. "If it hadn't been for Rachael, I wouldn't be alive." Though the public too often thinks their chief duties are to find pillows and ferry soft drinks, the primary duty of the nation's more than 90,000 flight attendants is to ensure the safety, health and well-being of passengers. With up to 2 million people on roughly 25,000 domestic flights daily, an attendant somewhere in the skies over the USA is dealing with an incident each day. Many can be matters of life and death. And their responses are often heroic. "I would say we have medical events every day, pretty much around the clock," says Dr. Thomas Bettes, corporate medical director for American Airlines, who estimates that his airline deals with roughly 20 to 25 life-threatening incidents a year. Neither the Federal Aviation Administration nor the Association of Flight Attendantshas statistics on the number of medical emergencies that take place in-flight. But the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association estimates that more than 400 lives have been saved by automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, on U.S. carriers in the past decade. The most extraordinary lifesaving events make headlines. In January, the nation heralded the heroism of the three US Airways flight attendants who led 150 passengers to safety after Captain Chesley Sullenberger landed Flight 1549 in the Hudson River. Yet, more often than the public may know, attendants are called on to save a choking child, to resuscitate a passenger with a failing heart or to evacuate a plane forced to make an emergency landing. They can be called on before even getting on the plane to assist a passenger who falls ill in a lounge or near the gate. Though their training programs may vary, all airlines must meet FAA guidelines that require flight attendants to be instructed in CPR and first aid. Each year, they undergo retraining to demonstrate knowledge and skills in a range of tasks, from containing a fire in the cabin to getting passengers off a plane that has to land or "ditch" in water, says Corey Caldwell, spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants. And since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, surveillance and self-defense have taken on greater emphasis, as flight attendants look out for passengers who may be a threat and identify those who can help in an emergency. "The customer service angle is part of the job, but just a small part," Caldwell says. "When a flight attendant is actually called upon to serve the safety and security function that they have trained so long for, often it's in a heroic situation." Quick action The day started quietly at New York's JFK airport, Jodi Teitelman remembers. Teitelman, a flight attendant for American Airlines, was taking tickets from travelers boarding a Los Angeles-bound flight when a passenger suddenly rushed over and said a woman in the lounge had become ill. Teitelman, 36, found Anna Tortorici, a grandmother, slumped over, unconscious. With the help of some passengers, Teitelman lay Tortorici on the floor, then ran onto the plane to retrieve the AED and emergency kit. It was the first time Teitelman used the heart-jolting device on a passenger. "It was … surreal," she says of that day in October 2006. In April 2001, the FAA required U.S. airlines to equip all domestic and international flights with AEDs within three years. As with CPR, instruction on how to use the devices became mandatory for flight attendants and is reinforced regularly. American Airlines put the devices on board in 1997, the first U.S. carrier to do so. Since then, the device has monitored or been used on more than 1,900 people, and has saved 86 lives, according to Bettes. Tortorici, now 78, is among them. She and her husband, Larry, were returning to their home in Woburn, Mass., from a 50th anniversary cruise in Hawaii. After going through customs at JFK, she briefly lost sight of her husband and became anxious. She sat down, and, "I guess my heart stopped beating," she says. Teitelman placed the defibrillator on Tortorici's chest. After a single jolt, Tortorici began to breathe on her own and thrash about. Paramedics soon arrived, taking her to the hospital. She later had a pacemaker and defibrillator placed in her chest. "Of course, I'm grateful to her," Tortorici says. In the early days of commercial aviation, the medical function of flight attendants was so front and center that they were required to be medical professionals. "In the '40s and '50s, to get a job as a flight attendant, you had to be a registered nurse," Caldwell says. Passengers often got air sick in unpressurized cabins. The stereotype of flight attendants as waitresses or waiters in the sky came later. In the 1960s, airlines began emphasizing their service function as a marketing tool, though they always focused first on safety. "The role has never changed," Caldwell says. Robert Putman, 52, has been a flight attendant for roughly 20 years. In that time, he has dealt with passengers who've had medical situations ranging from anxiety attacks to strokes. Most recently, in February, he performed CPR on a man who had stopped breathing on an American Airlines(AMR) flight from Tampa to Dallas/Fort Worth. Putman says that he's well-versed in what a medical crisis requires, from alerting the pilot, to asking if there's a medical professional on board, to practicing the mantra "look, listen and feel" when evaluating a sick passenger. "We're taught to do things," Putman says, "and rarely do we deviate." Unscheduled landing Occasionally, a medical emergency is serious enough that a flight has to be diverted to the closest airport. That was the case in May for Virgin America Flight 67, on its way from Washington's Dulles airport to San Francisco. A passenger felt sick, briefly passing out. Flight attendant Darryl Gregory, 45, alerted the plane's pilot and went on the intercom to ask if there was a medical professional on board. Meanwhile, another crewmember retrieved a container of oxygen. Donald Olsen, the plane's captain, began communicating with MedLink, a service that allows the flight team to get guidance from physicians on the ground, and the airline's dispatch center. "When you get on a plane, you don't know an hour into your flight someone is going to have a heart attack," says Olsen, 43. "That's when the teamwork comes into play, because there're so many things to do, so many questions to be answered." A physician on board came forward. But two hours away from landing in San Francisco, the passenger had already used three bottles of oxygen. Following doctors' advice, Olsen decided to land in Denver. Watching the crew handle a medical crisis can soothe the fears of other passengers. Ravi Poorsina, 31, who was returning home to Walnut Creek, Calif., from a business meeting in Washington, D.C., says that she was initially worried the sick passenger could not get the help he needed in the air. But she soon learned he was well cared for. "I guess it made me feel slightly more reassured," she said in an e-mail. "To know that the pilots and flight attendants are well trained and experienced is a good thing. You are not alone up there, and that becomes very clear in an emergency situation." She also got a better grasp on the role flight attendants play. "It made me understand a little more the pressure they are under, and how tough it must be to keep a smile on your face." In Denver, the sick passenger, whom the airline did not identify, was able to walk off the plane, Gregory says. He admits such incidents are frightening for him as well as for the passengers. When he started out, "one of my biggest fears was … all the training I got, would it kick in when it's supposed to?" he says. Each time, Gregory says, it has.
Flight Attendant deal with a Shoe Bomber Heroic Flight Attendant Breaks Silence over Shoe Bomber Incident
Her left hand bloody from the shoe-bomber's bite, Cristina Jones blurted into a telephone to the cockpit: "How long before we can land?" The American Airlines flight attendant still quakes recalling the pilot's reply: Two hours and 50 minutes to an emergency touch-down in Boston. Flight 63 from Paris to Miami was streaking westward high over the Atlantic. An al- Qaida bomb was aboard the packed Boeing jet. But no one among the 197 passengers knew it just yet. "I remember real clearly saying back to the pilot, '2-5-0?' " Jones recalled last week at a coffee shop near Tampa International Airport, her first stop on most work days. "He said, 'Yes,' and my heart just dropped." After nearly a year's silence, Jones, 40, who lives in Pinellas County, spoke at length of her efforts to subdue shoe-bomber Richard Reid, a confessed al- Qaida operative who pleaded guilty to federal terrorism charges in Boston this month. Many have saluted Jones as a hero. She was invited to President Bush's State of the Union address. Gov. Jeb Bush recently honored her with a "Points of Light" award in Tallahassee. And because she holds dual citizenship as the daughter of an American father and a French mother, she will be decorated for valor next month by the French government. But she is still traumatized by what happened, and still haunted. By her own account she is struggling with depression. She is also still trying to rebalance her career with her role as the single parent of a 7- year-old son. So she has avoided the limelight. Except for a Time magazine profile at the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, she hasn't publicly discussed her role in saving Flight 63 from almost certain disaster. It began with another flight attendant reporting a faint smell of smoke. Jones thought immediately of Reid. Something in his demeanor had unnerved Jones and other crew members earlier in the trip. Was he lighting a cigarette? Jones rushed to Reid's aisle and found him crouched over in a window seat, striking matches and holding them to his tennis shoes. Jones threw herself at the 6- foot-4 Reid and wrapped her arms around him. He didn't try to shake her off. He just bit her hand - hard. Stunned, her screams for help are still vivid memories. "Airplanes are loud and it's hard to hear people, but I've never screamed on a plane," Jones recalled. "It's the oddest feeling to have words coming out of my mouth and screaming at that level. As I was doing it, it felt so strange. I'm thinking, 'This can't be happening.' " At first, Jones wasn't sure what was unfolding. This was three months after Sept. 11, and the mood on many flights was still apprehensive. Wary crews braced for the worst but hoped for the best. "When he bit me, I think the gravity of it hit me like a ton of bricks," Jones said. "It hit me that, 'Oh, my God, this is what I thought, and it's totally serious.' " FIGURING OUT A BOMB The facts of the incident were widely reported in the days that followed. But what's never emerged is the confusion that engulfed the crew as they tried to analyze what they faced. Reid was subdued by a phalanx of male passengers who piled atop him and trussed him with seat belts and plastic handcuffs. But his bomb-rigged shoes weren't discovered under his seat until many minutes later. And even then, the threat was unclear. "When the first officer picked up the shoes, he didn't even know they were wired," Jones said. At one point, the shoes - still packed with potentially lethal explosives - were carried into the cockpit for inspection by the pilots. Jones, who was then seated behind them trying to recover from being bitten, smelled a charred odor. "I remember them discussing it, but I must be blocking a lot of it out," she said. "It was one of those situations where you're seeing it, but you really don't want to see it. You don't want to accept what you're looking at." The captain finally realized that Reid had tried to light fuses in the sneakers with matches. Then the shoes were stowed in the rear of the plane, next to Jones' jump seat. Next, crew members wondered if Reid had accomplices aboard. They kept expecting another attack. Jones returned to the passenger cabin. Then, someone smelled smoke - again. "And that's when I called the cockpit to ask how would we know if there was something in cargo burning, because you don't know to what extent we've been targeted," Jones recounted. The cargo hold on passenger jets is below the passenger compartment and usually not accessible in flight. "At this point, the passengers were so aware of their surroundings I felt pretty confident the smell of smoke wasn't coming from the cabin," Jones continued. "That's when I walked the airplane in bare feet trying to sense heat in the floor," Jones said. She didn't find anything, but the tension was excruciating. "It became just two hours and 50 minutes of not knowing and just being vigilant and watching everybody," Jones said. She thought of Ian, her son. "I remember looking at the ground and thinking, 'My gosh, it's a really long way down,' and I thought, 'I'm a single parent, completely single, and he doesn't have a father at all.' " By then, Reid had been sedated by a doctor among the passengers. He never said a word. Bomb experts later said Reid's shoe contained enough explosives to have blown the plane out of the sky. No one knows for sure why Reid failed to get the fuse lit. Numerous spent matches were found on the floor around his seat. http://www.apfa.org/public/articles/...EID_JONES.HTML
Flight attendants are the frontline foot soldiers in this country’s “war on terrorism.” The stress on our airline systems has increased and will only get worse. And yet flight attendants continue to report to work every day, ready to do what they can to keep us safe. I hope the traveling public would not take any of them for granted. Every time a traveler stands up and walks toward the cockpit, and every time a passenger ducks behind his seat to dig through carry-on luggage, flight attendants go on alert. These flight attendants are on just as high an alert, today, as they were right after 9/11. ISIS terrorists are swarming across the Middle East and newspapers are full of stories about fundamentalist fighters with the ability to travel with western passports from the UK and the USA. Immediately after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the media was filled with stories about “real heroes” — rescuers, police and firefighters who risked their lives to save workers in those buildings. The firefighters, EMTs and police deserve every accolade they receive. However, flight attendants should be praised as well. Flight attendants face potential danger every time they go to work. Where once their main purpose was to see to in-flight comforts and provide knowledgeable assistance in case of an emergency landing, their new job requirements are much more nerve-racking. Worse, their work is almost always taken for granted. New terrorist dangers are unknown. So unknown, in fact, that the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Aviation Administration, and other government organizations still cannot predict where, when or how an attack will take place. While passengers grumble about the inconvenience of security, we have the choice of flying or not. Flight attendants don’t. If they want to continue being paid, they have to go to work. Asiana Flight Attendants- Heroes Hong Kong (CNN) -- Veteran flight attendant Lee Yoon Hye sensed something was awry as Flight 214 neared the San Francisco International Airport runway. As the plane was supposed to land, it rose briefly as if it was trying to lift off again. Lee had worked 18 years with Asiana Airlines and on Saturday, her skills were tested. The plane slammed down with "great impact," said Lee, who sat in the front. How Asiana Flight 214 landed New details about Boeing 777 crew Plane crash investigation China mourns air crash victims Then boom -- the plane hit again. "It was even more than a hard landing," Lee, 40, said. The plane teetered left and right. Shock and survival: Plane crash through the eyes of children After striking the edge of the runway at San Francisco International Airport, the Boeing 777 tumbled into the ground, igniting flames and a trail of smoke. Its tail splintered off and parts of the plane peeled off as it skidded into the earth. When the aircraft finally stopped, she noticed that the emergency inflatable slide located at the right side of the front door had deployed inside the plane. Witnesses say the overhead bins dropped open. Hailed as a hero who ushered passengers out of the Asiana plane, Lee was one of the 12 flight attendants on Flight 214. Two other flight attendants were not in their seats at the rear of the aircraft when the plane finally ground to a halt, because they were ejected as the aircraft broke up. They were later found near the runway, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Lee calmly described the chaotic minutes of the Asiana plane crash. Dressed in her airline uniform, her name tag pinned to her jacket and her hair in the airline's trademark bun, she addressed Korean journalists gathered in San Francisco earlier this week. According to the airline, flight attendants helped passengers get off the plane safely. They opened doors, deployed slides and helped passengers escape, according to JoongAng Daily, a South Korean newspaper. As soon as the plane stopped, Lee knocked on the cockpit door to make sure the pilots were OK. The captain opened the door. "Are you OK, Captain?" she asked. "Yes, I am OK," he replied. Survivor: I thought 'I'm dying' Asiana crash: Rescuing the survivors Plane crash victim may have been run over Hager: Inevitable it was going to stall "Should I perform the evacuation?" she asked. He told her to wait, she recalled. Interactive: What happened with Asiana Flight 214? Lee made an announcement to assure increasingly agitated passengers, telling them that the plane had come to a complete stop. Once evacuation began, Lee said she had a plan. "I was not thinking, but acting," she said. "As soon as I heard 'emergency escape,' I conducted the evacuation." "When there was a fire, I was just thinking to extinguish it, not thinking that it's too dangerous or 'What am I going to do?'" Asiana flight attendants undergo three months of training including emergencies and terrorist training before their first flight. Did passengers ignore safety messages? Lee said she saw her colleagues jump into action to help passengers and injured crew even as a fire burned in the back of the airplane. They popped the first emergency slide that had deployed inside with an ax to free a crew member who was struggling to breathe underneath its weight. Another emergency slide in the back trapped another crew member and was deflated with a kitchen knife, Lee said according to South Korean news station YTN. One shaken elementary school-aged boy was afraid to go down the emergency slide, but one of the flight attendants lifted him on her back and escaped with him, Lee said. Earlier this week, Eugene Rah, who was flying his 173rd flight on Asiana Air, told CNN that he saw a 100-pound flight attendant carrying the injured on her back. Joanne Hayes-White, the San Francisco Fire Chief also praised the flight attendant for being "so composed." "She was not concerned for her safety, but everyone else's," she said. Lee said she was the last to leave the plane. And she glanced back. "The ceiling was coming down and I felt like something was dragging the plane. Behind me I couldn't see, because it looked like there was a wall."She had no idea the tail had snapped off or how the plane would be nearly engulfed in flames moments after they had escaped.Two teenagers, both 16, died in the crash. The rest who were on board escaped: 305 of them. Flight Attendant saves a life MIAMI (WSVN) -- A fast-thinking flight attendant saved a passenger's life at Miami International Airport earlier this year, and now, she is getting a very special message from the victim. Poul Jensen and his wife spent 6 weeks in South Florida from their native Denmark. On their way home back in January, Jensen had a heart attack. "It is very hard for me to speak about these things. I am a happy man today, I have my family, and I thank the lady very, very much," said Jensen.Meghan Rafferty was in the right place at the right time on Jan. 29. The American Eagle flight attendant grabbed a defibrillator and used it on Jensen. Her actions earned her MIA's employee of the year. "Anybody would have done the same thing in my situation. That if somebody was in need, and hurt in front of you, I did only what was natural, to help that individual," said Rafferty.After an operation and two weeks in the hospital, Jensen returned home to Denmark. Jensen's daughter also spoke about the incident. "I've never met her, but I'm very grateful that he was there at the moment, because if he wasn't in the airport that day, my dad probably wouldn't be alive anymore," said Brith Jensen. The 66-year-old is retired, but active. Jensen enjoys boating, biking and traveling the world with his wife of 40 yearsHis daughter said he's found a new appreciation for life, and this holiday season, he's giving a very special thank you to an Australian nurse and a Miami flight attendant. "He's so healthy now, and he's doing perfect, and he's a happy man. He appreciates his life more now," said Brith.Jensen sent Rafferty the word "Tak," which means thank you, on an engraved heart. The consul general of Denmark read Jensen's letter. "It is usually common knowledge that you only live once. In my case, that is not true. Thanks to you, I got the chance to live twice. Tak, Meghan, Poul Ankjaer," said Jon Rosenthal, Honorary Consul of Denmark. "It's something that I'm going to always carry with me and to have that connection with someone is extremely special," said Rafferty. There are many more stories which do not get into the news. These are part of the everyday life of working Flight Attendants.
Resources-Credits Chapter 2 Sources-
Author Kathleen M. Barry Aviation History Chapter 3 Delta Airlines Customised Compliance training- Public page http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/business-programs/training-and-consulting-services/flight-attendant-training/customized-compliance-training.html
Chapter 4 Heroes of the Skies By Nicole Gelinas September 10, 2014 | 10:51pm Asiana flight attendants hailed as heroes
By Madison Park, CNN updated 2:00 AM EDT, Wed July 10, 2013
Flight Attendant Saves a life http://www.miami-airport.com/pdfdoc/clip_sevennews-flight-attendant-saves-passanger-life.pdf Flight attendant heroes: coffee, tea or a defibrillator Today in the skyies By Charisse Jones, USA TODAY
