DC plane crash prompts airline pilot’s heartfelt announcement to passengers before takeoff
A flight passenger has gone viral on social media after sharing a video of an American Airlines pilot’s thoughtful announcement last week aboard flight AA1044 from Jacksonville to Miami.
The video has garnered more than 6.5 million views on TikTok with thousands of users commenting about the pilot’s message to the passengers.
The announcement came less than 24 hours after the tragic plane crash over the Potomac in Washington, D.C., took the lives of 67 people.
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“[You] may be fearful about flying, and that’s certainly understandable, but just please know that my first officer and our flight attendants and myself place your safety and the responsibility of carrying you to Miami, to your families, your vacations, your gates, at the highest level,” the pilot can be heard saying in the video.
“I have no higher calling than carefully, professionally transporting you today, so with that, relax and enjoy the beautiful evening that we get to fly in. We’ll begin shortly [and] welcome aboard.”
Leighton Mixon, from Jacksonville, Florida, told Fox News Digital what the message meant to him and the other passengers who were aboard the flight.
“I just want to [say] how thankful I am for him and his words in such a time as this. After such a tragic event, [and] I am someone who doesn’t have an anxious bone in my body, but I found myself facing so much anxiety and so much worry going into my trip (which was the following day),” said Mixon, who recorded the footage.
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As a fellow flight attendant, Mixon was interested in seeing how the pilot would handle this delicate situation and alleviate any nerves of those on board, he said.
“It’s every pilot’s job to inform and take control, but his kindness and his empathy far surpass his job description.”
— Leighton Mixon
“I honestly couldn’t help but wonder how the crew would be and how their demeanors would be. How will they act? What will they say? That’s actually initially why I pulled my phone out to record, because I knew I wanted to hear what he was going to say,” Mixon added.
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“And with one PA, it’s like he just invited calm into the room. It felt like he was speaking literally to me, and then I looked up and quickly realized how badly every single person on the flight needed to hear what he had said.”
Mixon said he noticed the silence on the plane, pointing out that it is extremely rare to see people listening so intently to a pilot’s announcements.
“It’s every pilot’s job to inform and take control, but his kindness and his empathy far surpass his job description,” Mixon added. “It was such a delicate but necessary task.”
Social media users appeared to have the same reaction to the pilot’s loudspeaker address.
“That is so kind of him knowing his heart is probably heavier than it’s ever been,” one user on TikTok posted.
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“It’s like he felt the fear…I’m glad he spoke up about it,” another user commented.
“As an airline employee you train and train and train for every possible worst-case scenario, and hope and pray to God it never happens.”
— Leighton Mixon
“His voice sounds like it broke when he said he had no higher calling. His heart is so so heavy,” one Tiktok user wrote
“The way I’d want to hug him at the end of the flight. I can only imagine it’s so devastating for their community too,” another person shared.
“All of our pilots did that yesterday…my pilot took the extra time to brief us yesterday to make sure we were all okay to work and made a beautiful announcement to the passengers once they were on,” wrote another.
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Mixon said that his own position as a flight attendant also played a role in why the announcement felt so special and “necessary.”
“As an airline employee you train and train and train for every possible worst-case scenario, and hope and pray to God it never happens,” he said.
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“You can be doing everything right, and it still be totally out of your control,” Mixon added. “That scares me but also brings me peace. We are not in control.”
Fox News Digital reached out to American Airlines for comment.