Praise for Flight 1404 attendants

Drills, emergency training result in fast evacuations

By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 23, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by David Zalubowski / Associated Press/Pool

The charred wreckage of Continental Airlines 1404 sits in a ravine on Monday after it veered off a runway Saturday at Denver International Airport.

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You probably have never thought about an incident exactly like the one that sent Continental Flight 1404 careening into a ravine Saturday.

But flight attendants have.

"This is what flight attendants train for - they're not there to think about what the passenger in 14B wants to drink," said Corey Caldwell, spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants, the world's largest flight attendant union. It represents 55,000 employees of 20 carriers.

While details of the incident have yet to emerge, admiration is growing for the silent, virtually invisible work performed by Continental's flight attendants, who evacuated all of the passengers in the first seconds after the plane had skidded off the runway and caught fire.

The evacuation, made in seconds, was the result of meticulous training that, at every airline, is updated annually. Depending on the airline, attendants practice emergency drills in actual plane cabins or in sophisticated simulators that heave and pitch. Their version of a "surprise quiz" is to be plunged into total darkness, thrown into water or enveloped in a smoke-filled cabin.

And that pleasant hello when you board the plane? The attendants are also sizing-up the likelihood you could be an extra hand in a crisis.

"It's one of those professions where you don't really realize just how valuable the flight attendant is until there's an emergency," Caldwell said. "They get stereotyped as hostesses, servers-in- the-sky. It's unfortunate because their most profound charge - to protect the safety and security of the passengers and assist in emergency situations - gets overlooked."

Until a crisis hits, that is.

Then, in seconds, years of training - from book learning to "real life" training in simulators, to coordinated drills with colleagues that rival troop movements - all go into play simultaneously.

As Continental Flight 1404 started down the runway, the attendants knew, simply as part of their training, that 80 percent of all accidents happen either then or on landing.

Prior to that, they "absolutely" had evaluated each passenger as a possible help or hindrance in an emergency, Caldwell says. She had a personal experience about the passenger's crucial role.

Caldwell recalls one time sitting in an exit row seat when an attendant, who had no idea who she was, asked whether she was prepared to offer assistance if needed.

"I nodded my head - I was giving her my full attention and eye contact - but the flight attendant said, 'I can't let you sit in this seat unless I have a verbal 'yes' that you understand me.' "

Attendants develop an indefinable sixth sense that prepares them for action. They become attuned to the subtlest sounds, bumps and smells of an aircraft. Over the scream of jet engines, some can detect the soft thud of a tire popping on takeoff.

Obviously, no one can predict who gets hurt in an accident. But training prepares attendants for both the physical and psychological shocks of a crisis.

"Of course it's a stressful situation," Caldwell said. "But flight attendants aren't asked to be super-heroes, they're just asked to use their confidence and skills . . . to meet whatever the day's gonna bring 'em."

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