Summary
Flight attendants are trained to provide onboard first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The most common in-flight medical issues are nausea, fainting and respiratory problems. Flight attendants brief the pilots, and the captain decides whether to divert the flight to a nearby airport.
Planes also hold rafts, safety vests, oxygen masks, flashlights, a crash axe and an escape rope. The goal is to evacuate the plane within 90 seconds. In the Tokyo runway collision in January, the 379 passengers and crew members aboard one plane evacuated in about 18 minutes.
