Safety Hacks for FAs, Goesling Update & More

A quick update before the U.S. goes into a holiday weekend after one of the most horrific weeks in our history

It’s Memorial Day in the U.S. on Monday, which means a long weekend. Those of you with military backgrounds have likely dealt with well-meaning but misinformed people wishing you a “Happy Memorial Day!” Civilians: Please do not do this.

Unlike Veterans’ Day, Memorial Day exists to pay tribute to those who lost their lives serving their country. It is a day that carries a more somber message, and for those military families who have lost a loved one, saying “Happy Memorial Day!” can be upsetting, offensive, and hurtful. (Not everyone agrees with this, but every military person I know does, and usually they have to point it out every year on their social media accounts).

I learned a lot about this—and about the idea of stolen valor—while researching my memoir The Strong Ones, which is about a ragtag group of civilians who spent seven months on an Army base to prove how strong a woman can get. We pushed ourselves to our physical limits for military women, but we were not soldiers, so it was vitally important I was careful with my language so as not to disrespect those who are serving or have served.

Flight Attendant Safety on Layovers

Have any of The Landing’s readers ever tried these hacks? They’re from a flight attendant who went viral with some great tips. She was kind enough to share them so we can all take away some new safety measures:

To start, CiCi props open her door and checks the room — including the closets, the shower and the space behind the curtains. She also checks to make sure the phone works.

Then she closes the door and covers the peephole. As an extra measure, she closes the latch lock with a hand towel, which in some cases makes it harder to pick.

CiCi also keeps her suitcase next to the door. As she explained in the comments, this is to prevent someone from running a wire or some other lock-picking device along the ground outside.

It doesn’t look like she offers any tips for stopping colleagues from one’s own airline from breaking/barging into your room. I’m not sure if anyone’s figured out a safety hack for preventing coercion and pressure and implied (or direct) threats from a person at your door who happens to have influence on your career and is literally responsible for getting you home safely.

Maybe one of The Landing’s readers should do a tik tok about that?

Goesling Case News: Judge REFUSES to Recuse Herself

Breaking today: Judge Kimberly Fitzpatrick has declined to recuse herself from the Goesling case despite several significant issues with the way the jury instructions and the verdict itself was handled.

Now the administrative judge for Tarrant County has assigned Judge David Peeples to hear the recusal matter. A 2018 Texas Lawyer article described Judge Peeples this way: 

Because of Peeples' reputation for handling delicate matters without a hint of politics in his decisions, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht once referred to him as the judicial "gold standard" for handling hot cases. 

If you recall from my post earlier this week, Kimberly Goesling’s lawyers found multiple discrepancies in various court filings and moved for a new trial, and then moved for Judge Kirkpatrick to recuse herself. In other words, it all looks pretty fishy and we truly need to know more about how and why it all happened. Those varying signatures alone are enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

(ICYMI, Earlier this month a jury found a “celebrity” chef hired by American Airlines had in fact sexually assaulted Goesling, but decided American was not responsible for the attack.)

The case continues.

Stay tuned.

And finally…

There are no words to describe the horrific events of this week at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas—coming on the heels of the slaughter in Buffalo, N.Y., a racist attack on a Black community in a Black-run grocery store.

Shame on everyone and anyone who won’t make the change we need to stop the slaughter; who won’t do what 90% of Americans want (yes, even gun owners), which is enact common sense gun-control laws to keep assault weapons and WMD out of the wrong hands as best we can.

It works in, oh, I don’t know, every single other country on earth. It would work in the U.S. if politicians were not bought by special interests/the NRA.

Anyone repeating or pushing second amendment panic propaganda here will be deleted. This is not the time or the place.

Shoes on airlines, seatbelts in cars and drivers’ licenses are highly regulated for the greater good and safety. It’s not hard to do it with assault rifles. SHAME on this county’s Republicans for their cowardice and for all the millions of dollars they take from the NRA to allow our children to continue to be shattered and destroyed by flying bullets while going to school.

Rant over.

Have a safe and relaxing weekend if you can.

More next week.