What’s going on on America’s flights?
First, there was the JetBlue flight attendant who cursed out a passenger, then activated the emergency slide and exited the plane. Next, there was the pilot from a month ago who was discovered to be drunk only moments before take-off. But an episode from last week truly took the cake.
In case you haven’t heard, American Airlines flight 2332 from Dallas to Chicago experienced some unexpected turbulance — even before the flight left the ground. A confused flight attendant wandered the aisles asking passengers what city they were in and if they were in Houston (it was Dallas). Passengers chuckled, assuming it was some comedic attempt to make everyone comfortable. Then the flight attendant took to the PA system shouting “9/11” garble, screaming that the plane had safety issues and that the flight was going to crash, just as the plane was taxiing toward the active runway. Hmmm, reassuring!
Initially, most passengers thought the words were just a bad joke and laughed it off as sick humor. But once they saw the other flight attendants get into a physical scuffle with the rogue stewardess, they knew this was no laughing matter.
The flight attendant was eventually restrained to the sound of blood curdling and demonic screams, and the plane was brought back to the gate. The flight attendant, who was admittedly bi-polar and had missed her dose of medicine was taken to a hospital along with another member of the cabin staff, who sustained minor injuries. No charges have been filed.
The Department of Transportation has spent a great deal of time and money on the screening process to prevent dangerous maniacs from boarding planes as passengers. But is it time they spent a bit more time, money and attention on the screening process to prevent dangerous maniacs from boarding planes as airline employees?
