Do not comply with authorities when life is on the line and they’re in the way.
Fine, FAA regulations. Why couldn’t they fucking send a message to the tower on her behalf?
Power corrupts…
Um, her flight was free, what’s the problem here?
Jeebus, is there an domestic airline left worth giving my business to? Yeah why couldn’t they offer to have the tower call police/emergency services for her which seems the easiest solution?
I… I do not have words for this.
Yeah, don’t comply, force the plane to not take off (by not complying), and call 911. I’m sure everyone in positions of authority are already rationalizing this terrible incident.
Heartbreaking.
Horrible.
i heard about this over the weekend and i was really hoping it wasn’t true. wtf.
Sad characters who will not move their ass to save another person’s life unless they are threatened with jail time need exactly that. Apparently, Wisconsin even hast a “duty to rescue” law, but it applies only to witnesses to a crime.
This is sad and messed up, but odds are even if she called it would not have changed the outcome. Most likely he would not have picked up and stopped what he was doing. This wasn’t some lone call for help, but a thought out, planned action.
Fair enough, but also be prepared for the criminal charges that follow. While we may dismiss the danger of making a phone call, the law on the books treats it as endangering the aircraft, and it would not be unlikely for it to be prosecuted as such, regardless of the necessity.
The steward, of course, was facing the same fate is he or she permitted the phone call (to say nothing of being fired for endangering the passengers).
We want a rules-based society to minimize the opportunity to show favoritism. But tragedies like this remind of us the cost of removing discretion and punishing rules-breaking harshly.
Of course you should gladly accept the criminal charges if it might save a life. No question.
Of course, the totally unfair response to that is to point out that you could be saving many lives right now without going to jail by donating much of your income to the truly desperate in other countries. But neither you nor I are willing to do so.
So asking others to risk loss of freedom for years to possibly save a life is asking a lot.
I’ll modify my post to more closely reflect my position
Of course I will gladly accept the criminal charges if it might save a life. No question.
I’m more concerned with people who need help in my neighborhood. The world is a big place. I’ll just focus on making my corner a bit nicer for those around me. If I gave my money to people in Africa, I might feel better but the urban artist living in my house rent free would suffer and he makes art that enriches many peoples lives.
Is the Airline culpable here? Or just amoral?
As I said, my response was unfair. What we do when we’re faced with immediate need is a different matter, and I am certain that you would follow through.
I was mostly asking for some understanding for the steward, who likely faces claims of emergency several times a month yet pays a severe penalty should she or he accede to the request.
“I can stop this flight with one word!”
