Brave cabin attendants

[Hobbit]

I'm researching true stories of bravery by cabin attendants after accidents. It is a shame that everybody forgets the real reason that you are actually there. I am the safety officer at a small airline and think that stories of the girls (and boys) doing the real job would be thought provoking and motivating. If you know any references please let me know.
Thanks in advance.

[SLF 999]

Not being aircrew, two that spring to mind are the sioux city crash and the Tenerife KLM / PANAM crash

Seem to remember that the crew were extremely brave / courageous helping the passengers in both.

Im sure a search in Google etc will bring up results

[GalleyWench]

Hobbit, there is a book authored by an ex Pan Am crew member about heroism amongst PA cabin crew. If you are interested in a copy I can contact a colleague that distributes this book. i beleive it was written by Valerie lester and published independently. Each chapter is dedicated to different crew. There was the regional FA that threw herself in front of a hijacker/terrorists gun to save a child and Dorothy kelly- one of the heroines of the tenerife tragedy. I lent my copy to a friend which is why the details are sketchy but it truly is a fascinating read.

[Hobbit]

Any chance of the ISBN number, sounds like just the sort of thing I'm after. Plenty of stories to keep a newsletter filled for years! Thanks for the info.

[Ozzy]

Details from amazon.com

Fasten Your Seat Belts! History and Heroism in the Pan Am Cabin
by Valerie Lester, R. E. Davies (Illustrator), Jerry Daly (Illustrator).
Availability: Out of Print--Limited Availability
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Paladwr Press; (September 1995)
ASIN: 0962648388

Ozzy

[Tart with the cart]

http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020909/aattendants.html

Type cabin attendant/cabin crew/flight attendant bravery/courage into a search engine and you will find much information.

[QF skywalker]

My inspiration for becoming a flight attendant in the first place was after the Aloha Airlines Flight 243 incident on 28 April 1988.

After suffering an explosive decompression on their 737-200 out of Hilo bound for Honolulu. The purser was sucked out of the aircraft, the 2nd flight attendant was knocked unconcious to the ground and the 3rd flight attendant named "Michelle Honda" managed to crawl up and down the aisle during the decompression offering assistance and keeping the passengers calm. A TRULY AMAZING WOMAN.

A true story movie about the flight named " Miracle Landing" is a must see for any cabin crew member
You can see by the picture how much of the roof ripped off mid flight and for anyone to have the courage to move up and down the aisle still continuning to do their job regardless of the risk is simply a "hero".

You can read more on this incident at
http://www.airdisaster.com/cvr/aloha243.shtml

regards
QF Skywalker
:ok:

[SydGirl]

There is a fantastic book called 'On a Wing or a Prayer' edited by Malcolm MacPherson (ISBN 0006-095978-9) who is the editor of The Black Box. This book is full of interviews with airline disaster survivors and crew. It is absolutely inspirational and gives the reader the perspective of the passenger, the flight attendants and the tech crew. There are many examples of bravery and courage from the crew in the pages of the book.

It's an amazing book to read even for those just interested in aviation :)

SG
:}

[Algy]

The FA in the recent Brit Air CRJ crash at Brest is to receive a French gallantary award - (Croix d'Honneur??) - and quite right too. You can see the initial report in French here http://www.bea-fr.org/docspa/2003/f-js030622p/htm/f-js030622p.htm and see the pix of what happened to the aircraft.

Reads a bit dry even in French, but she was the last one out of a RJ being consumed by fire, with the skipper dead in the cockpit, the FO badly injured. and nearly 20 pax to evacuate. Bravo.

[newswatcher]

I do hope you find room to mention the crew of G-BGJL, the BA (Airtours) 737 which experienced a severe fire at Manchester airport on 22 August 1985, resulting in the deaths of 53 passengers and 2 cabin crew.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_avsafety/documents/page/dft_avsafety_502609.hcsp#P124_6415

[Viscount Vicky]

Dorothy Kelly, definitely. I suppose also, those who have been subjected to hi-jack. The Mogadishu crew had a very hard time of it amongst others. Was Dorothy Kelly the only cabin crew member to survive Tenerife?

[Luv 744s]

I'd like to add to this thread that there is a network of used/rare/out-of-print book dealers whom deals internationally and is reportedly pretty good for finding most anything that the major chains can't or won't supply.

http://www.abebooks.com/

Had a good experience dealing through that when I wanted to find a very particular eskimo book that's just plain tough to get a copy of outside of Alaska. Others I know has used them to get a copy of technical or special books available only internationally. The major bookstore chains spent 8 weeks looking for the eskimo book but failed. abebooks.com listed _53_ copies ready for immediate sale!!!! I had it in my possession 3 days later, after ordering through abebooks.com.

So you might find the books you seek at that web site.

Explicit disclaimer: no relationship to them or any of the dealers as anything other than a satisfied one-time customer.

[34R]

Several months ago a Qantas Link flight attendant on a B717 from Melbourne to Launceston was attacked by a deranged passenger hell bent on rushing the flight deck. The flight attendant in question, who was the Cabin Supervisor, placed himself between the attacker and the flight deck door.
The passenger was weilding wooden stakes, which he proceded to use as weapons, stabbing the Cabin Supervisor in the back of his head repeatedly. The C.S. managed to tackle the passenger, wrestling him into the cabin and eventually onto the ground, where he continued to be stabbed until surrounding passengers managed to subdue his attacker.
Although this story lacks an 'accident', it certainly avoided one, god only knows what may have eventuated had he gained access to the flight deck.

[Tart with the cart]

links I found:

http://www.flightsafety.org/pubs/ccs_1995.html (register, but its free and there are many articles. There is one on a flight attendant in the USair 1016 crash.)

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/stories/Detail_LinkStory=61029.html

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oddnews/message/237

http://www.coffeeregular.com/a_special_cup.htm

http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,6521509,00.html

http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99nov13/saturday/head10.htm

https://mail.lsit.ucsb.edu/pipermail/gordon-newspost/2002-July/003067.html