Background info - last week, a flight from Minneapolis to Regina, Saskatchewan had an emergency en route - a fire in the washroom. Plane went from 30,000 feet to emergency touchdown in Fargo, North Dakota, in 8 minutes. Passengers were calm, but very frightened. A friend of mine was on it and said it was a very stressful experience, as you can imagine: ‘A look of terror on their faces.’
The follow-up in today’s news: a flight attendant has been charged with setting the fire in the washroom, because he was unhappy with the airline at making him fly that shift: Charge turns fear to anger.
Presumption of innocence, wait for the trial, yadda, yadda, yadda, but…
Is presumption of innocence warranted when the suspect confesses immediately? Even in a legal setting, that’s gonna be one short trial.
I can’t imagine jeopardizing an entire flight over something like that. Just incredible. You know he’s blacklisted on every damn airline there is now. Who’s gonna let someone like that onboard?
Not necessarily. A confession is not, on its own, sufficient evidence for a conviction if the accused retracts the confession and enters a not guilty plea. Without knowing the details of the circumstances under which the confession was given, it’s not possible to say it’s valid. False confessions are more common than most folks realize.
Damn! That’s a hell of an emergency descent - that would scare the fucking socks off me and I like zooming towards the ground!
I’m probably going to hell for this, but I call that sort of terrified calm “stunned bunny mode”.
Holy fuck what was he THINKING???
Airlines hell - as far as I’m concerned he should be banned from the skies period - airlines, private aircraft, balloon lofted lawnchairs, ladders, etc.
19 year old flight attendant? How long was this kid working, and how many minutes of training did he have? Good pilots at least, but I think I’ll steer clear of Compass Airlines. It seems to be associated with Northwest, no surprise there.
19yo male flight attendant. Possibly with some heavy shit going on in his young life: this is a heavily gay male job, and 19 can be a confusing time to be a gay male, if indeed he is one.
(I don’t wanna go easy on the kid, but as someone from outside the community I am not gonna baldly blurt out “drama queen issues” in a public forum.)
Yeah, but now he’s stuck in Fargo! Even without the arrest problem, it’s obvious he didn’t think that one through! Unless Fargo is a far more “happening” town than Minneapolis?
I don’t know if the Minneapolis jail is more “happening” than the Fargo jail, but if he ends up in a federal penitentiary, he won’t be going back to Minneapolis anyway.
