A hot August afternoon in Denver in the 1980’s changed me forever. In a moment’s notice I had to make the choice for action. Bravery was not something I was thinking about at the time.

I was based in Denver as a flight attendant for a major U.S. airline. I commuted to Denver from Portland, where I lived at the time. I arrived in Denver in time for my 2:15 check-in for a 3:15 departure for Kansas City and other cities. It is exhausting to commute to another city to work one’s schedule but the airline business had been making huge changes, making employee’s lives very challenging.

When it is hot in Denver in mid afternoon, flights can be very turbulent after takeoff, especially when trying to get out of the surrounding Rockies. The hot air rising and those mountains make for fast takeoffs at a very sharp attitude, (the angle of the nose on liftoff). As we raced down the runway, I thought about turbulence, how much actual time we’d have to serve a completely full flight, and take care of first class. Oftentimes, the head flight attendant will go back and help the flight attendants in the coach cabin because of the larger number of passengers; as I knew I would be. I did take note there were some pretty hefty sized but well dressed men in first class. They took up their seats entirely. Steak and potato, Midwest type of guys (you get to know your customer!!)

What happened next will stay in mind forever; the flight attendant call button went ding, ding, ding and our wheels aren’t even retracted yet. I answered, and the response was the code for hijack. The call came from the rear of the aircraft phone. My heart jumped to my throat. Our wheels weren’t retracted yet……what was going on? I couldn’t unfasten my seat belt, or I wasn’t supposed to. I heard the wheels start to retract and the belly of the plane close up on the Boeing 727-200, a really nice, trustworthy, sleek aircraft which holds 125 passengers, plus 8 or 9 depending on extra crew members. I unbuckled my belt immediately to look down the slanted aisle to see a wild-eyed man (who resembled Elton John in a way) climbing (and I mean climbing because of the angle), hand over hand, climbing over the seat edge coming towards first class, on the way towards the cockpit. The plane is nowhere near leveled off. I can barely get my balance as I get up to see what the call is all about and grabbed the edge of a first class seat.

I turned and scurried up angle to the cockpit door to give the secret knock for hijack or trouble. No response. Of course not, the pilots are WORKING to get that plane level. I look behind me and that nut is on his way forward with no one thinking to unfasten their seat belts, because the seat belt sign will stay on for a long time… (the mountains, maybe bumps) I wouldn’t expect passengers at that point to do anything, although, I WOULD NOW.

Here he comes, hand over seat, hand over seat. I ran back to the cockpit door gave “the knock”, still no response and we are still angled. Now he is coming just before first class when I run and try to knock him down, I pushed, pushed again and yelled at him. No one is doing anything as we are still angled ….I run to the cockpit, and this time ignored “the right knock”, I just started banging…the door opened and the second officer was looking at me like I had lost my mind; with one hand, and I mean ONE HAND, I lifted him out of the seat with his belt still strapped and gave him a wild eyed (I’m certain) code. WE turned around and there was “the guy”. We both started to fighting with him to get him settled, he was losing it, sweating, and acting desperate…not even really uttering anything.

The cockpit door was still open; somehow, one of us closed it. No one in first class wanted to help but I grabbed a man and told him to help us now. The crazy man was saying he wanted the plane to go somewhere else…no joke. I had no rope, ’ thought about using a headset to tie him up. Why were these big guys JUST SITTING IN THEIR SEAT???? Oh, how I had learned another lesson that day. There are those who just sit and watch and there are those that RESPOND with common sense WITHOUT QUESTION. This man was falling apart with adrenaline by being stopped and confronted but also his strength was formidable. He had no weapon in his hand, but it didn’t matter he was crazy.

The plane leveled off, we were heading towards Kansas City. The second officer went to the cockpit to report to the captain we needed to turn back to Denver. With air traffic and weather, it would take us another fifty minutes just to turn around to get to where we had just left. People just don’t realize the logistics it takes to do things IN THE AIR. The 2nd officer and I moved a first class passenger to the cockpit. We put the crazed passenger in that first class seat. We threatened him that he was not to move. In the meantime the authorities had been contacted to meet the plane as soon as we could get clearance to change the flight pattern to turn back to Denver.

It was the busiest time of the day, especially challenged by connecting flights and weather. In the meantime there is a full flight to take care of, serve, try to run things normally, and inform them calmly that there was a problem and we would be returning to Denver. There is a time, when one realizes that there are those in this universe that cannot deal with the big picture. This is the time to be cool, coherent, flexible, and wise ….well and helpful. I am constantly surprised by the sheep like conduct that people will revert to when they give up their authentic abilities.

We got the passenger to sit in the last row of first class. We asked the passengers (the big guys in first class) to help out and watch him. A lot of good that did. The crazed man had a square, hard briefcase. Like a flight briefcase pilots use. He stood up, emptied it and turned it upside down and emptied the contents all over the first cabin, proceeded to take off his clothes and go into a fetal position partly under the first class seat in front of him with NO big guy trying to help and now he is in his underpants only. We attendants then prepared the cabin for returning to Denver. I’d removed all serving utensils, magazines, objects of potential temper and harm.

We came into Denver fifty minutes after the initial take off. The FBI was there at the gate to take the man. He was in a daze and completely out of it. We were exhausted. The passengers from coach left and thanked us. The big guys in first were, well…… I was taken to my supervisor to fill out copious notes about the incident. I was told to take the next scheduled trip off. The pilots thanked me. My crew members thanked me. But, at the bi-yearly recurrent training it was never studied or brought up. I was angry and made sure I expressed it. I have NEVER forgotten the responsibility that we were to deal with in a flying cigar. That incident was to be thoroughly studied in recurrent training and it was never brought up.

Thinking of 9/11, I think of that error every time with disgust. When I get on an airplane now, I do NOT EVER take small bags with wheels to place in the overhead compartment. I want the overhead compartments to be filled with a shopping bag, a gift, or a coat like the old days. I want the dry chemical bottle and the CO2 bottle to be easily accessible if I need them, I can take them and try to spray them in the face of an intruder. Never mind a fire…THESE THINGS ARE THERE FOR SAFETY AND A POSSIBLE OTHER WAY TO STAVE OFF PROBLEMS. They are the chemicals that can temporarily or permanently blind an intruder. THINK. LOOK again at the safety card. You may need to use baggage as a weapon.

I am not here to instill fear but experience, knowledge, training, and deductive reasoning to use all possibilities and cooperation to stop unexpected occurrences.I loved my years of flying. I was lucky, but that day in August will stay with me forever.