by Alessandro Vinci
“Actions like this should be celebrated,” wrote the author of the footage, which was taken on a Delta Air Lines flight from Charlotte to New York that was affected by some turbulence. A fundraiser has been launched and over $2,300 has already been donated
The hands that tremble, the eyes that cross. On one side, Delta Air Lines flight attendant Floyd Dean-Shannon, on the other side, a passenger recovering from a panic attack. The photo, shared on Facebook on Saturday, January 14, by a North Carolina woman named Molly Lee, adept at capturing a moment of genuine empathy aboard a plane from Charlotte to New York, has gone viral. In fact, it all started a few minutes earlier, when the traveler burst into tears over the repeated turbulence. He had tried to calm her down, to make her understand that everything was under control, but to no avail: the tremors caused by the wind had literally frightened her. The man had therefore decided to make a gesture that was not foreseen in the protocol: he had sat down in the corridor, taken her hand and explained with a smile that he had nothing to fear. At this point, Molly from the back row had taken the opportunity to take the “stolen” shot.
fundraiser
“‘I’m here,’ he repeated to her— he told the latter to the TV channel WXII12 –. He was very reassuring to her and told her not to worry and that everything would be fine.” Hence the idea of immortalizing the scene, which lasted about ten minutes: “I felt compelled to take a picture because it was really moving. It was so nice to see someone open their hearts to a stranger like that.” For this reason, in his opinion, the steward should not only be rewarded with congratulations on social media. “Floyd Dean-Shannon deserves a raise!” he wrote, tagging Delta Air Lines’ profile. Then, on Tuesday the 24th, he even opened a fundraiser in his favor on GoFundMe: “Floyd Dean-Shannon has shown exceptional kindness without expecting anything in return – so the description – but actions like this should be celebrated. So let’s show him some love!” Result: $2,300 already accumulated with a final goal of $10,000.
zero risk
As uncomfortable as turbulence is, it’s a common occurrence when driving at high altitude (and rarely results in injury, especially from not using a seat belt). As for the general stability of commercial aircraft, consider what veteran American pilot Patrick Smith said: “An airplane cannot be overturned, slung, or otherwise propelled into the sky, not even by a gust of wind or a greater vacuum – he illustrated 2014 on his popular blog Ask the Pilot -. Conditions can be rough and uncomfortable, but the plane won’t crash.” The reason is obvious: “Planes are built to withstand extreme loads, and the turbulence it takes to stall an engine or cause structural damage is something that not even the most industrious traveler – or pilot – can experience in their lifetime. It is not surprising that in the history of modern commercial aviation the number of aircraft disasters caused even indirectly by turbulence can be counted on one hand”. But the passenger rescued by Dean-Shannon was probably unaware.
January 27, 2023 (change January 27, 2023 | 18:27)
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