WLS reports some passengers aboard the Spirit flight spotted flight attendant Ericka Paige Diehl, 41, posing for the photos during boarding. Diehl was seen standing on the tarmac and sitting inside an engine housing just in front of the turbine blades.
One of the passengers aboard the flight contacted WLS asking if Diehl’s actions were part of a new pre-flight checklist. The passenger then searched Facebook and discovered Diehl had posted the photos on her timeline.
Spirit Airlines spokesman Paul Berry told WLS that “the activity portrayed in the photo absolutely goes against Spirit policy” and that the airline would investigate the incident and take appropriate action. But some members of the aviation community say Diehl’s actions are not uncommon and do not warrant all the fuss.
“I have a picture in a jet engine, and pretty much everybody that I know that has been a flight attendant … it’s just one of those things that we like to do,” aviation consultant and former flight attendant Sylvester Pittman told ABC News.
“The photo of the flight attendant in the engine isn’t a problem. We all take them,” flight attendant and New York Times bestselling author Heather Poole concurred on Twitter, but added that, “the time that she decided to take it could be an issue.”
Poole suggested airlines place inoperable engines inside airport terminals for passengers to pose in.
“Betcha passengers would love to pose in an airplane engine,” she tweeted. “Maybe Spirit should start charging. It is Spirit after all,” she added, a not-so-subtle dig at the low-cost airline’s reputation for outrageous fees.
Others in the aviation community posted photos of themselves, or in some cases entire flight crews, posing in aircraft engines.