True Stories #185 - The Smile of Courage

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
I'm Seth Andrews, and what you'reabout to hear is a true story.
Nier job Banote worked for pan AmAirlines. The date was September fifth,
nineteen eighty six. She was apurser on flight seventy three, traveling from

(00:25):
Mumbai to New York City, andbefore her shift was over that day,
Nier Jebanote would be dead. Shewould also be a hero. Now,
the purser on an aircraft is essentiallya manager for the entire cabin. The
purser oversees the other flight attendants andchecks safety protocols and makes reports. The

(00:51):
purser and Nier Jebbanote had applied forthe flight attendant job when pan Am announced
that it wanted an all in cabincrew for flights connecting to India. So
she went to Miami, trained forthe job, went to work for PanAm,
and in her personal life she alsohad a successful modeling career. She

(01:14):
was on her way. She wasonly twenty three. September fifth, nineteen
eighty six. Flight seventy three departedMumbai on the first lag of that journey
toward the United States. This wasa Boeing seven forty seven, the first
stop would be Karachi, Pakistan,and it was there that hijackers would attack

(01:34):
the plane while it was still onthe ground. They were part of a
known terrorist group called Ano. Theywanted the plane and the hostages so they
could break fellow terrorist out of aprison in Cyprus. And on that day
in Karachi, two hijackers had approachedthe plane. They were driving a van

(01:56):
blaring sirens, wearing airport security uniforms. They jumped out of the van,
guns firing, and joined other terroristswho rushed onto the boarding plane. One
man had a suitcase filled with grenades, and as all of this was going
down, Nier Jabanote managed to shoutout a code for the pilot and cockpit

(02:17):
crew, the code for hijack.The crew heard this warning, they popped
an emergency hatch on top of theplane. They escaped the pilot, that
copilot, the entire flight crew gone, which meant there was nobody to fly
the plane. When the demand fora replacement flight crew was not met,

(02:38):
the terrorists executed a hostage, andthen the hijackers turned their attention to the
passengers. They demanded all passports besurrendered. As their group was very much
anti West, it was believed atthe time they were specifically looking for Americans

(02:59):
on the plane near Jabotes and hercabin crew followed those instructions, but even
as they rounded up the passports,they hid as many as they could in
seat pockets under the cushions, evenslipping some into the trash bins. Now,
this plane hijacked at four thirty inthe morning, sat on the tarmac

(03:23):
for over seventeen hours until fuel wasfinally exhausted, auxiliary power shut down,
the lights went dark. This wasjust after nine pm. The terrorists panicked.
They started shooting their guns wildly withinthe plane. They began trying to
pull the pins, tossing grenades.There were some explosions inside the aircraft.

(03:47):
One of the flight attendants managed tofind an aircraft door and fling it open.
No stairs, no slide, butthe door was opened. Passengers began
jumping the long twenty feet down tothe ground. Another door opened just over
the wing, passengers screaming through thatexit, and then a third door opened

(04:10):
that one did have an emergency slide. Instructing and moving and pushing these passengers
was nier Ja Benote and her fellowflight attendants. A terrorist saw Nierja helping
people escape, he took aim withhis gun and he fired. If she
had chosen to, she could havebeen the first person out of the plane

(04:31):
that day. But nier Ja Benotehad chosen to stay and save the others,
and for that decision she paid withher life. Special forces finally swooped
in and retook the plane. Thesurviving terrorists arrested, tried, given a
death sentence, which was soon commutedto life in prison. And as a

(04:56):
result of that terrible September day innineteen eighty six, out of three hundred
seventy nine passengers and crew, morethan one hundred fifty innocent people injured and
twenty lay dead, including the purserfor pan Am seventy three. Nierja beknowned,

(05:17):
and all these decades later, thestory of her courage lives on for
bravely shouting that warning to the flightcrew, guaranteeing the plane could not leave,
and then as leader of the cabincrew, committing herself to the safety
and rescue of the passengers. TheGovernment of India honored her posthumously with its

(05:40):
highest award for gallantry and bravery intwo thousand and four. The Indian Postal
Service issued a stamp in her honor. Nierja's family set up a charity in
her name, a charity which honorsIndian women facing injustice. There was a
school named after her. Various memorialswere held for her in other countries around

(06:03):
the world, and her brother,a Niche wrote a book about his sister,
a book titled The Smile of Courage. And here, with your indulgence,
allow me to play for you thelast recording of Nierja's voice from the
moments right before the attack, asshe was on the plane talking to the

(06:27):
passengers, doing her job with skilland goodwill. I find music. I
a thoid thing. The first classeven on behalf of pami Okaya group.
It's supposed to welcome you or broadcupapplied number kills say to Karaki because myself
to Susie for a New York onea segments. I have been looking for

(06:55):
a way to properly close this somberstory. So if you will indulge me,
allow me to share with you Apopular Indian quote, author unknown.
It says this, when you wereborn, you cried and the world rejoiced.
Live your life in such a mannerthat when you die, the world

(07:18):
cries and you rejoice. And theaccount of PanAm Flight seventy three, of
Nyrsha Benotes and her brave crew isa true story. True Stories podcast dot com