Flight 4951's near-disaster: The controversial video
A cell phone video of an emergency landing captures a brush with death, and triggers debate about a flight attendant's role
The video: Delta Flight 4951 is being hailed as the sequel to last year's "miracle on the Hudson." A small plane headed from Atlanta to Westchester, NY, had to make an emergency landing at JFK Saturday night after part of its landing gear became stuck in the up position. Two passengers, 26-year-old Chase Benzenberg and his friend Alessandro Albero, whipped out an iPhone to document the crash landing in a 55-second video, ignoring a flight attendant's repeated urgings to "[keep] heads down, stay down."
The reaction: The role of the flight attendant in the video, and reactions to her, have some crying foul. Commenters have called her "nerve-wracking" and annoying. How unfair, says Matt Mendelsohn at AOL News. While the "dashing" pilots who executed the landing are being treated as heroes, a "woman whose training and expertise might have saved the lives of scores of passengers" is turned into a "bitchy and annoying" joke. It's the defiant, sadly compulsive filmmakers who deserve criticism, says Mary Elizabeth Williams in Salon. In their position, wouldn't you "send up a silent prayer, hold another passenger's hand... call your wife to tell her you love her?" But, then again, Benzenberg and Albero "belong to a generation accustomed to regular self-documentation." Watch the clip:
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'Good riddance to the televised presidential debate'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Caitlin Clark the No. 1 pick in bullish WNBA Draft
Speed Read As expected, she went to the Indiana Fever
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - April 16, 2024
Cartoons Tuesday's cartoons - sleepyhead, little people, and more
By The Week US Published