At most times, many think of flight attendants as one who merely serve chicken or beef, with some even saying “oh, she’s just a flight attendant”. Needless to say, these people tend to overlook their capabilities, until a turn of event happens, an unfortunate emergency situation where a hundred lives are placed at risk, and this is where a true essence of a flight attendant really shines. This is Aeroflot flight attendant Tatyana Kasaktina, and this hero flight attendant literally pushed passengers to safety away from the burning plane.
In May 5, 2019, an Aeroflot Sukhoi Superjet 100 carrying 78 people made an emergency landing at the Sheremetyevo International Airport at the Russian Capital of Moscow. The aircraft bounced and on the second time, burst to flames. The rear portion of the aircraft was covered with flames, hence, the flight attendants only deployed the forward slides.
More lives would have been lost, if not of the swift action of the flight attendants. Passengers were reported to be getting their personal luggage from the overhead compartments during the emergency evacuation process which slowed everything down.
One of the flight attendants named Tatyana Kasaktina started to grab passengers by their collars and literally pushed them out of the burning aircraft to speeden up the evacuation. Unfortunately, a flight steward at the rear section named Maxim Moiseev, died trying to save the passengers towards the tail of the aircraft. He remained on board helping people escape the inferno but to no avail.
The surviving passengers thanked the cabin crew for saving them. Survivor Dmitry Khlebnikov said: ‘I thank God and the stewardesses who saved me. They were always with us, helping people to climb the slide and get out of the cabin full of smoke… It was dark and incredibly hot inside.’
So just imagine how it would have been if there were no flight attendants around, no one to risk their lives to save people they only met once, no one to stay behind doing their best to save the lives of others, even if it means that they themselves were bound to lose their own.
When we disobey our cabin crew and when we do not pay attention to them, we are actually putting lives at risk, wherein sometimes, the flight attendants themselves and other passengers have to pay for these unwanted passengers actions with their own lives.
Despite that, a cabin crew’s dedication to their call of duty as safety professionals remain the same, regardless of how we may treat and see them. When the unfortunate happens, no matter what, they will spring to action and do all to make sure you get to live another day again.
To others, they are your typical flight attendants. To us, their valor makes them more than flight attendants, they are heroes.
No matter how safe air travel is, anything can happen at 40,000ft and flight attendants are there to ensure your safety. So during deplaning, don’t forget to thank your flight attendant, for making sure that you live another day of your life. And in the event of an emergency situation, never forget that they are there to save you, even if they have to say their last goodbye.
Our salute to all our flight attendants who become the first responders during an inflight emergency situation.
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