Article August 9, 2004 Issue

Panic on board

By Sigrid Hehz

The Gulf War had just broken out. I was the flight attendant on a trip from Saudi Arabia to North America. Passengers were forbidden to bring cameras on board. But for some reason one passenger with a trench coat suddenly popped up in my galley with a camera. My co–worker grew deathly pale and totally lost her cool, screaming hysterically. In addition to this, passengers in the cabin had seen this happen and began to get pretty loud.

This man looked at me with eyes I'll never forget. He pushed me to one side and continued toward the front, into Business Class—no one was really supposed to go through there.

I had to react quickly. I knew that my male co-workers were up front, and that the man was going to run right into them. I took a moment to pray so that I wouldn't be overwhelmed by the chaos on the plane.

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