A cabin crew member who was ejected from an Air Canada aircraft during a deadly collision at LaGuardia Airport in New York has miraculously survived the crash, according to her family.
Sarah Lepine described her mother Solange Tremblay’s survival as a “total miracle” when speaking to Canadian television station TVA Nouvelles on Monday.
Lepine reported that Tremblay sustained several fractures in one leg requiring surgical treatment, but is otherwise in stable condition. The flight attendant remained secured in her seat during the ejection from the aircraft.
“I’m still trying to understand how all this happened,” Lepine explained, “but she definitely has a guardian angel watching over her.”
The aircraft was attempting to land Sunday evening with more than 70 passengers aboard when it struck a fire truck that was responding to an emergency involving a different aircraft. The collision completely destroyed the front section of the plane and resulted in the deaths of both the captain and first officer.
Former federal crash investigator Jeff Guzzetti also described Tremblay’s survival as miraculous given the extensive damage to the aircraft’s nose section.
Guzzetti explained that flight attendants use specialized jump seats that fold against the cockpit wall and are secured with four-point harnesses. “It’s a very robust seat,” Guzzetti noted. “It’s designed to withstand probably more crash loads than passenger seats because you need the flight attendant to help passengers get out of an airplane after a crash.”
A similar incident occurred in 2013 when multiple flight attendants were ejected from an Asiana Airlines aircraft that crashed into a barrier wall during landing at San Francisco International Airport. That accident involved 291 people and resulted in three fatalities.
