Flight attendants normally spend their time looking after their domain that is the aircraft around them, as well as all on board. But as a flight out of Nanjing at the weekend proves, they can also help to prevent disaster on the ground far, far away. Or perhaps not…
This past Saturday, 5 March, China Eastern Airlines flight MU9608 departed Nanjing just 21 minutes late, at 14:11, bound for Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province.
On board was a Ms Zhang. But she was troubled by her thoughts. Niggling her mind was a worry with which we are all familiar. She thought she had left the gas on at home.
About 50 minutes into the 3-hour flight, and not knowing whether it could possibly do any good, Zhang decided to tell the crew.
And so it was that the purser of the flight made a satellite phone call from their aircraft to the China Eastern Airlines’ operations and customer centre. Flight dispatcher, Zhao Xiang, took the call, reports The Paper.
The purser informed Zhao that they had “a situation” on the aircraft, that a passenger suspected she had not turned off her kitchen stove’s gas supply before she left for the airport.
Zhao immediately then called the property management of the residential community where Zhang lives. He was told they would look into it promptly.
Just 15 minutes later, Zhao received a report from the property management, which he then relayed, again by satellite phone, to the crew of flight MU9608.
When it was all over, the expensive satellite calls made between the flight crew and airline operations on the ground, together with the efforts of the property management personnel, revealed the truth.
Zhang’s gut had been correct. But the gas tap on her stove was in fact off. She’d just forgotten to lock her front door.
