Association of Flight Attendants-CWA Assists NTSB in US Airways Flight 1549 Official Investigation

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) today was officially selected to participate in the investigation of US Airways Flight 1549 being conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), an independent U.S. government agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. AFA-CWA represents US Airways flight attendants, including the three flight attendants who successfully evacuated 150 passengers in less than 90 seconds as Flight 1549 sank into the Hudson River yesterday afternoon.

"As the representative of more than 55,000 aviation safety and security professionals, AFA-CWA has played an important role in NTSB investigations for decades," said AFA-CWA International President Patricia Friend. "We once again applaud the professionalism of our US Airways colleagues who demonstrated to the world the essential role flight attendants serve on the aircraft."

AFA-CWA will assist federal investigators in gathering information related to the policies and procedures followed during yesterday's emergency evacuation. AFA-CWA will support the NTSB to help determine what happened and identify potential safety improvements to better ensure accident survivability.

"The flight attendants performed their safety duties in textbook fashion," said Mike Flores, AFA-CWA US Airways President. "Their years of experience and training made all the difference once the aircraft was in the water."

For over 60 years, the Association of Flight Attendants has been serving as the voice for flight attendants in the workplace, in the aviation industry, in the media and on Capitol Hill. More than 55,000 flight attendants at 20 airlines come together to form AFA-CWA, the world's largest flight attendant union. AFA is part of the 700,000-member strong Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.afanet.org.