Flight attendant turned co-pilot: 'I don't feel like a hero'
June 16, 2010 6:54 AM |
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UPDATED STORY
Patti DeLuna hadn't piloted a plane in about 20 years until this week.
Back then, it was a small Cessna. On Monday, she quickly stepped up to a Boeing 767 airliner.
DeLuna, 61, an American Airlines flight attendant,
helped her captain land the jumbo jet at O'Hare International Airport after the flight's first officer fell ill with stomach flu.
"I was the best available (back-up pilot) they had on the plane,'' DeLuna said Tuesday from her California home. "I spent a lot of time in the cockpit looking at the flight deck panel and asking questions. My first question to the captain was, 'Where are the brakes?' ''
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