It’s not uncommon for people to give birth prematurely on planes. However, I don’t recall ever seeing a video of the delivery, up until now.
Last Wednesday, China Airlines flight 8 from Taipei to Los Angeles diverted to Anchorage shortly after a woman gave birth inflight. They made plans to divert to Anchorage when they knew she was going into labor. However, she gave birth about 30 minutes before landing.
Via The Daily Mail:
After going into labour, the pilot informed the airline company and requested permission to land at Ted Stevens Anchorage Airport in Alaska out of consideration for the safety of the woman and her baby.
However 30 minutes before landing, the woman gave birth to the child – and received a round of applause from fellow passengers following the first cry.
In a video shot by a woman on the flight, air stewards can be seen holding the baby, wiping her with tissues and wrapping her, and her mother, in large blankets.
Here’s the video:
Kudos to the flight attendants for their work in this case, and I guess it’s a good thing the front side of their uniforms are red. 😉 That’s certainly beyond the call of duty!
In the end, the flight to Anchorage took about nine hours.
From there it was just a 4hr30min flight to Los Angeles, where the flight ultimately arrived a bit more than three hours late.
Bottom line
I can’t even begin to imagine what child birth is like in general, let alone on a plane. I’m hoping there were some open seats so they had room to work — I’m not sure how that would work otherwise.
What a video!
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