‘You are barrelling about the skies at 500 miles an hour.’ Why flight attendants want you to stop ignoring them
When a Japan Airlines airplane collided with a coast guard aircraft at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport earlier this month, the JAL A350 aircraft was swiftly engulfed in flames and terrifying images of the runway fire spread across social media. Former Japan Airlines flight attendant and cabin safety officer Mizuki Urano saw the photos of the airplane inferno and “assumed the worst,” expecting “a very big disaster.”
But while five people on the Japan Coast Guard Dash 8 plane were killed in the crash, to Urano’s – and the world’s – surprise, all 379 people on board the JAL aircraft survived. A phrase was soon being thrown around, both in the media and online: “It’s a miracle.” This thought initially crossed Urano’s mind, but then the former flight attendant reflected and changed her perspective.
“I know the Japan Airlines cabin crew members’ training manuals and training contents, and their concepts for safety and their passion for safety,” Urano tells CNN Travel. “I thought, ‘Oh, this was not a miracle. It’s the natural results of their efforts.’ ” Across the globe in London, British flight attendant Kris Major watched the JAL collision, and its aftermath, play out. On his next shift with the European carrier he works for, Major and his fellow flight attendant talked about the crash. They were unanimous in their praise for the JAL crew and how they’d seemingly expertly executed their training.
“We were just so proud of how they represented what we do – and demonstrated what we do to a global audience,” Major tells CNN Travel. It’s easy to view flight attendants as simply there to serve you food and drink, but safety is their primary purpose. The JAL crash was a “visually dramatic” reminder of what can go wrong in the aviation world, says Major, but also a reminder that “when it does go wrong like that, you can still survive, if you do the right thing.”
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