Airline Safety

According to a recent story (Part I, Dec. 24), Eastern Airlines suspended four flight attendants after they refused to depart on an aircraft that they considered to be unsafe due to icing conditions on the wings. The story goes on to say that the pilot initially refused to have the plane again de-iced, deciding that it wasn’t necessary. Ultimately he acquiesced to their demands and the plane was de-iced.

We can think of no incident in recent memory that better illustrates the underlying attitude an airline can have for air safety. We were so moved by this incident that we contacted the Eastern Airlines corporate communications director for clarification.

She told much about Eastern’s fine safety record--and about the standard policy throughout the industry for leaving safety decisions to those best trained and equipped to make them--the pilots. It would be wrong, she said, to allow attendants to exercise control over flights--possibly delaying 140 or more passengers several hours--on what must be viewed (because of their lack of training) as a “whim.”

The uneasiness we feel about Eastern’s action and policy--a policy the director convinced us is endemic throughout the industry--is that we as a public are expected to place all our confidence in a pilot whose ability to know and understand the safety characteristics of an aging--or in this case, heavily iced--airplane may often be extremely limited. Shouldn’t a pilot welcome observations from an attendant?

Most of us are not aeronautical experts--but we are not ignorant as passengers either. We would like to believe that if any member of a flight crew feels concern about airworthiness, that he or she will be encouraged (by airline policy) to voice that concern freely and openly to superiors.

We may be alone in this, but we feel that the acts of these attendants were acts of bravery. We commend their taking positive action out of concern for air safety--actions that may well have saved the lives of 140 passengers in Denver.

We feel sorry for Eastern Airlines that it cannot better justify its actions in disciplining these employees--and instead--blame what it portrays as a hostile media for bringing this matter to our attention.

ANTHONY J. BRIGANTI

JOAN KESSINGER

PAMELA HARRIS

CAROL O’NEILL

GLORIA MANKO

MARY CRANDALL

Long Beach