On Sunday, September 11th my husband and I boarded Hawaiian Airlines flight 21 from Seattle to Maui. I sat by the window, and he grabbed the aisle for our 5+ hour flight. This was the start of our 20th wedding anniversary celebration.
The flight was turbulence free. We ate a few snacks, and a special rum punch was served to get us into an aloha frame of mind. Things were pretty unremarkable… until they weren’t.
About an hour to landing my husband taps on my shoulder and says, “Something terrible is about to go down with the woman behind us.” Moments after his declaration, we hear a flight attendant over the plane’s PA. “If there is a doctor or medical professional on board, please make yourself known to the crew.” The crew makes this plea twice.
A woman one row back and directly across the aisle from us is unconscious. Her mouth is open and her tongue is hanging out of her mouth. Maybe 30 minutes earlier I had seen her slowly make her way to and from the lavatory with her traveling companion. The women is elderly and my husband is sure she has already died.
Crew and some random passenger begin to offer medical attention. The best medical attention you can give 40,000 feet in the air and one hour away from land. The woman’s body is lifted from her seat and placed on the aircraft’s floor, right in the middle of the aisle. Her feet are even with our row, so everything is happening inches from my husband and a foot or two from me.
A flight attendant retrieved an oxygen tank. One of the passengers began CPR and chest compressions. The entire plane is watching. Unable to help. Unable to move away to give the crew space or the woman dignity.
The plane is equipped with an AED (automated external defibrillator). They place the pads on the woman’s chest, yell for everyone to “CLEAR” and hit the woman with a shock. Over and over and over. The sound of the charge, the sound of the shock, the sound of passengers and crew counting out chest compressions filled the cabin. The plane began its decent into Maui.
I am trying to hide my face and look out the window as tears are streaming from my eyes. Some guy in the row in front of us starts taking pictures. The AED machine is still zapping this woman. People trade off who is doing the chest compressions as their arms tire. One of the flight attendants gets adrenaline from the first aid kit. There is talk of injecting it into the woman. All the while we are getting closer and closer to the airport.
After 30+ minutes of this, life saving efforts had to stop. The crew and passengers needed to sit down and prepare for landing. Uncertain at first about what to do with the woman’s body, crew managed to shimmy a blanket underneath her. They then proceeded to drag her lifeless body down the aisle into the plane’s galley. Her face was not covered as her head passed our seats.
I heard her traveling companion say the woman was 80. She was coming home to Maui after visiting grown grandchildren in Seattle. She apparently had a good trip….
The crew closed the galley’s curtains as we made our final approach into Kahului Airport. We touched down and were quickly at the gate. EMT’s immediately boarded the plane. I have heard that flight crew cannot declare a passenger has died. Only on the ground medical professionals can make that call. A large container was lifted by jack to one of the plane’s exits. The woman’s lifeless body was placed in the container then lowered to ground level for transport away from the airport.
We were pretty shook from the whole incident. Our exit from the airport happened in a daze. This was a travel experience I hope to never repeat, but one I will never forget.
