Question of the Day | 02/03/2009 11:00 pm

Has the Miracle on the Hudson changed your in-flight habits? Are you listening to the flight instructions for a change?

Candice Bergen | 02/03/2009 11:00 pm

Candice Bergen: Sink or Swim

I always pay some attention to those announcements even though I would be like the woman on the US Air flight who almost sank the plane by trying to open the rear door.

2 Comments

Liz Smith | 02/03/2009 11:00 pm

Liz Smith's In-Flight Planning Pre- and Post-Miracle

I ALWAYS re-read the safety card as if I’ve never seen it before, and I have never wavered from that, not even back before they invented jet engines. Flying is so frightening that paying attention to safety instructions makes up the only control you can exert over the experience. I like to see how far I am from the exit door and plan my moves. I tell myself, "If anything happens, you must abandon your book, your carry-on bag and your coat. Just get out!" But sometimes, if I am jammed in at the back, I give up and say Kismet.

The worst thing about flying isn’t the fear of crashing and dying. The worst thing is having the pilot constantly interrupt your reverie, your book, your movie with stupid comments that add nothing to your flight experience.

P.S. This is a very good time to point out that in the matter of the flight attendants on the recent Hudson River miracle landing, it is gratifying to know that the three of them were all women over 50. The very kind of brave women who read the wOw site. And just think, only a few years ago you had to be young, beautiful and single to be a flight attendant.

Click here on this text to read my New York Post column.

2 Comments

Joan Ganz Cooney | 02/03/2009 11:00 pm

Joan Ganz Cooney's Flying Habits Unchanged After Hudson Splash

I always have listened to flight instructions; I’m very interested in what you’re supposed to do in case of emergency and where the life jackets are. But the Miracle on the Hudson was just that. I doubt that it will be repeated very soon, so it didn’t change my attention span when I board a flight.

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Mary Wells | 02/04/2009 12:00 am

Mary Wells's Secret Apparatus

I have been flying so much all my life, I hide a couple of wings I have grown under my arms. I always listen to instructions. Planes are not all alike. I am always checking what they say, where everything is. I try not to appear as nutty as I am when I am on planes. My husband ran airlines and never trusted a plane or a pilot or fate. We were controlled but unhappy from the appearance of the first cloud, from the first shake.

1 Comment

Joan Juliet Buck | 02/04/2009 12:00 am

Joan Juliet Buck: Stay off the Airbus

I don’t like the airbus. French pilots have crashed a few. It took the calm and divinely guided Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger III to land his airbus safely on water. In future, I will try to fly only on planes that he is piloting. The odds are low that geese would fly into his planes twice, and if they succeed, he’ll know what to do. That may take me to North Carolina more than I had planned, but you can’t be too safe. Otherwise: stay off the airbus. And read the damn instructions.

1 Comment

Judith Martin | 02/04/2009 8:45 am

Judith Martin in Flats

I learned from it not to wear high heels on an airplane. But I guess I already knew that.

1 Comment

Julia Reed | 02/04/2009 8:55 am

Julia Reed: The Comfort of Experience

I have never been afraid of flying, maybe because in our little town, planes were the fastest way out to the wider world. In those days, flying was a lot cheaper. It was an agricultural community, and everybody flew and owned little planes. At one point, my father, who had learned to fly in the Air Force, had four. I flew with him the first time when I was barely three months old. We also had a little airport, anchored by Southern Airways (which morphed into Republic which became Northwest which is about to be Delta). I felt so cool the first time I flew alone commercially, at eight. People still dressed up to fly and everybody was smoking and drinking and I felt about 35.

I do read the stuff that tells you what to do, just in case. My father survived a private plane crash about 25 years ago, and recently I was flying with him on a little commercial commuter jet, and we were in the exit row, and when the stewardess asked us if we could handle opening the emergency exit, he grinned and said, "Yep, I’ve done it." She looked very startled and all the people within earshot looked even more shook-up. People clearly don’t like to be reminded of the possibility of going down.

4 Comments

Sheila Nevins | 02/04/2009 9:45 am

Sheila Nevins: An Important Spelling Lesson

I never listen. I fly a great deal. I know the odds are in my favor and I know how to spell exit and I know how to find it.

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Jane Wagner | 02/05/2009 6:20 am

Jane Wagner, Aero Heroine?

Yes, I try to harness any ADD-like racing thoughts and listen more carefully to what I used to think were woefully inadequate instructions. It still seems like a corny comedy sketch, but I don’t laugh anymore. Like Liz, I reread the safety card and check out my exit plan. I sometimes make a promise to myself that I will be brave and helpful to other passengers and not trample on anyone. My plan includes stepping back to let mothers/fathers with babies go before me. My fantasy is, I would be so helpful to the crew, I would gain their respect, and perhaps I would be asked to go on MSNBC Rachel Maddow’s show, where I would say I didn’t consider myself a hero – I just did instinctively what needed to be done.

3 Comments

Cynthia McFadden | 02/05/2009 7:40 am

Cynthia McFadden's Lesson in Geography

Flew back from L.A. yesterday and was stunned to find myself searching for the life jacket. (For all those water landings over the Rockies.)

0 Comments

65 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

I rarely travel by air, but I do have a trip with my daughter in a few weeks that involves four flights - we will definitely be attentive to the safety instructions. As the daughter of a firefighter, I always entire an environment looking for more than one emergency exit. Dad drilled this into us from a very young age and it’s a good life skill. (He also made me so paranoid that I water my Christmas tree at least twice a day!)

By Green Tears on 02/04/2009 6:39 am

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yep… i’m going to pay more attention to where i am in the plane and to the instructions. I’m also going to be prepared to one punch any moron that delays me from exiting a plane floating in the water because they want their baggage. this means extra reps at the gym… but i think it’s worth it.

By Chrome Toe on 02/04/2009 8:46 am

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I fly about 100,000 miles a year, and I admit, I don’t always listen to the safety instructions - because I can recite them. I do, however, always know how many rows I am from two different exits, at least.

By Lorraine Bates on 02/04/2009 9:18 am

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I always listen to the flight instructions ever since I read “Flying Blind, Flying Safe” by Mary…..something-or-other, who was, I think, Inspector General of the FAA during the first Bush Administration. I especially liked her advice to count the number of seats between you and the exit because if the cabin floor lights didn’t illuminate (or were hard to see due to smoke), you could use the seats to count your way out. I also liked her advice that women should never wear pantyhose on a flight - if the plane crashes, the hosiery melts to your legs. Ouch. But Julia’s post reminded me of my first commercial flight - from Memphis to New Orleans in the mid-60’s. My two sisters and I shared a row and were dressed to the nines. We were served hot chocolate and promptly spilled it on each other.

By Valerie Van Eaton on 02/04/2009 9:30 am

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Valerie, Mary Fackler Schiavo, JD, former Inspector General of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT)

By HA BIBI on 02/04/2009 8:05 pm

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I’ve been flying like forever, even was a stewardess -and trained as such in one of my former lives, but hated the job & quit soon thereafter-, been in a couple of near misses & still love flying with a passion. I think is wise to get your bearings inside the aircraft/pay attention to all instructions & also keep your own counsel, hopefully based in common sense……..

By marta pont on 02/04/2009 10:18 am

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I don’t fly very often…….but I always listen. Each Airplane is different and the Crew is also. I like when the Attendent is serious and not just brushes it off lightly.

By Dona Howlett on 02/04/2009 12:03 pm

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Well as a Flight Attendant who gives the traveling public these safety instructions, I can only hope that folk’s take heed to them. They also need to be aware of these instructions as not all aircraft are the same and operational features vary on aircraft type. i.e. window exits, door operation. Just a peice of info to keep in mind, the most critical phases of flight are taxi, takeoff and landing……..Happy flying all!

By HA BIBI on 02/04/2009 12:14 pm

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Elaine — As a former Flight Attendant I can remember giving all those instructions. Seems there was always the guy asleep and snoring while I was talking. Women were much more observant to a degree. And, you are so right, not all aircraft are alike. Even after flight school and all the instruction we received on all the aircraft, I would check all the exits, doors and window exits each time I flew. Did you ever have a “hairy” experience? The only one I remember was the time we were landing in Fargo, ND — it was snowing (always snow in Fargo in the winter) - we landed, the brakes were applied but the plane hit ice and we just kept going. Ended up in a field with wet, muddy yuck! The airline had to bring in another plane from Minneapolis to get us back. Good lordy, that plane was so deep in the mud I was wondering if they just kept it there and made a tourist attraction for Fargo! :)

By Lady Gator on 02/04/2009 2:38 pm

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Hi Lady G, Yes, indeedy one can’t fly as long as we have and go unscathed, LOL. We lost 2 engines on an L10-1, with the third on 1 going caputz as well. Had to make an emergency landing in RDU. Didn’t even have gates there at the time, so had to wait at the airport 16 hours for our pilots to be flown back to MIA and retrive another aircraft to get us all out of there. The plane hit the ground pretty darned hard, didn’t have to blow slides but was on the news that night. It was my favorite flight of all time! Reason being is, that everyone on that flight…All 300+, became as a family. I had twelve UM’s of my own to look after. Just as the news crews realized we weren’t talking, yet praised our skills, a man I recognized as one of our passengers, came up to me and asked if I had kids, I said yes, 2, He said boy’s, girls and I said one of each, he said ok and walked away….I just thought he was asking because he was certain we were all glad to be safely on the ground and would be thrilled at knowing we would get home to our families. I thought nothing more of it. Well, he comes back about 30 minutes later with bags full of toys from the gift shop, comes up to me and say’s…These are for your children as a gesture to thank you for taking such good care of us as well as all the children who were on the plane. I was speechless and we hugged each other with tears of gratitude in my eyes. Also had an Artist on this flight who drew renditions of me on a cocktail napkin, standing next to the Bulkhead. These are priceless, I had them framed. Capt Sully is right, when you lose all engines, there is an errie quietness with dead weight.

By HA BIBI on 02/04/2009 3:46 pm

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That would be an L10-11.

By HA BIBI on 02/04/2009 3:47 pm

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Elaine — I remember the first time I worked an L10-11 — I was in absolute awe. It was bigger than my apartment at the time! :)

By Lady Gator on 02/04/2009 8:15 pm

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Lady G, She’s my favorite bird of all! She doesn’t like to leave the gate but, once you coax her off of it, she fly’s like the true work horse she is. I loved the Senior position of Lower belly Galley Queen….You’d show up to work in your flip-flops and boom box. No one ever saw you, you just sent everything up the lift! Loved the lifts, we always played Star Trek….”Beam me up some more Baileys” Scotty, LOL.

By HA BIBI on 02/04/2009 8:47 pm

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I hope it’s okay to say that this is a hilarious story (easy for me to say since I wasn’t there, right?) It’s just how you told us.

By Flo Cross on 02/04/2009 7:06 pm

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Flo — It’s certainly okay! In fact, when all was said and done, the whole crew exploded with laughter. We kidded that Captain for years over that incident. We called him “old muddy”. It’s been years since I flew, however, I still correspond with him. We send e-mails. He calls himself “old muddy”. :) I’m sure, if Elaine and I were to get together we could write a book.

By Lady Gator on 02/04/2009 8:10 pm