When I was a stewardess, I had many strange experiences while
I was on my flights. All of the accidents I experienced taught me
that no matter how urgent I was, I must not have lost my reason.
I still remember some of them clearly. I'll show you one of the
most impressive accidents. One day in bad weather conditions I
took a flight from Tokyo to Kouchi. I was a chief-attendant in
this flight. This flight used a small propeller-jet plane called
YS-11, and the passengers were only 64.
When the passengers boarded, I noticed an odd group of men.
All of them were suits of glossy silk, deep-black sunglasses, and
big golden bracelets. "They look like the Japanese Mafia. Be
careful when we serve them," I shouted in my mind. After all the
passengers boarded, we took off with the odd group. In this
flight we had some big turbulence. The plane swung as if we got
on a jet coaster. If I had not fastened my seat belt my body
might have been lifted up. I was anxious about how all the
passengers were getting on, but I couldn't move from my seat.
After turbulence I was called up by one of the passengers. The
man was one of the odd group that looked like the Japanese Mafia.
"May I help you?" I asked. But he didn't reply. I looked at his
face. His face was pale, and his breath was hard. He looked
like he had airsickness. I took care of him immediately. First I
loosened his collar and tie. Next I put a blanket over him and a
cold towel on his forehead. I waited to watch him for a short
while. But he did not took he was getting well, so I decided to
give oxygen to him. We had several portable oxygen tanks on the
plane, and we were trained in how to tend a sick passenger with
them. After a while he had a ruddy complexion again, but he
was breathing hard yet. He seemed to be more unwell than
airsick.
"If there is a doctor or a nurse on board, please contact us,"
I announced. But there were no doctors or nurses on board. I
thought that he couldn't be helped until we arrived at the Kouchi
airport. So I requested the pilot to call out an ambulance at the
Kouchi airport to carry him to a hospital.
We had landed at the Kouchi airport. As soon as the plane
arrived at the spot, the first-aid staff came aboard the airport.
Though they might get him on a stretcher, he could not move from
his seat, because he was so tense and couldn't detach his hands
from the armrests. The first-aid staff and I massaged his hands
and advised him to relax his muscles. At this time I
noticed that his fingers were not ten. His little fingers were
missing. I remembered that the Japanese Mafia cut their little
fingers by themselves when they failed something in their custom.
I said in my mind, "they were real Japanese Mafia." We continued
massaging his hands until they separated themselves from his
armrests, but his hands were fixed under extreme
tension.
Suddenly an idea struck me. The armrests could detach from the
seat. Oh! It was good idea. I screwed the armrests off his seat
at once, and he went to the hospital with the armrests of our
airplane. According to the emergency reports, he was
cheered as soon as he arrived at the hospital. And our armrests
came back without incident.
I thought that we can see a society in a flight. One flight
time was too short in comparison with the lives of various
passenger. But I could see an epitome of life on the plane. And I
had two lessons in the flight: first, "A man does not always
choose the best way, but the most important thing is to do one's
best"; and second, "never judge by appearance."
by Megumi Miyata
