It pays to pay attention to the flight attendants

Rocky Mountain News, Denver: Airline passengers are suddenly paying attention when the flight attendant explains how the life vest works and how to get out of the plane in an emergency.

This stuff really works, as we dramatically learned when 155 passengers and crew aboard a US Airways flight survived a crash landing in the Hudson River recently.

Life-or-death decision

The veteran pilot, Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, had only a few seconds to make a literal life-or-death decision — and chose to put the plane down as gently as possible on the river.

The semi-submerged Airbus A320 survived, too, and on Friday workers with a barge and a crane arrived to return it safely to dry land.

So, be it resolved that from now on we pay attention to the flight attendant’s safety lecture, take note of the exits and read the instructions in the seat-back cards.