I realize that this entry is very late and it's quite long, but bear with me.   
   I was a Western Airlines FA during the time of the WAL 2605 crash, and I flew   
   many times to Mexico City without any incidents or concerns with the three   
   pilots who died on WAL    
   2605. I liked and trusted each of them very much. I especially remember the   
   S/O, who was a serious pilot but also a fun guy. One time during a flight, he   
   hung a rubber chicken just inside the cockpit door, so it would be in my face   
   when I opened the door    
   to gain their drink orders. I laughed so hard; he was a kick. I knew one of   
   the surviving FAs, Donald (Chip) Richards, before the crash, and I met the   
   other FA survivor, Eddy (Eduardo) Valencia, in the LAX FA lounge after the   
   crash, where he told me his    
   experiences--before, during and after the crash--in great detail. I can't   
   attest to his written accounts regarding the crash (in July 2018, he released   
   a new book about the crash called "Jumpseat, A Tale of Twisted Fate," which I   
   have not read. Nor did I    
   read his previous book). However, I can share the experiences that he and Chip   
   shared with me soon after the crash. On the flight, Eddy and Chip sat in the   
   aft FA seats. Eddy said he experienced the crash in slow motion and somehow   
   felt taken care of    
   during it, as if he would be okay. After the impact, he saw the fire coming,   
   so he used his strength (he was a bodybuilder, and appeared so to me at the   
   time) to expand a hole in the fuselage large enough to help the passengers,   
   Chip and himself exit.    
   Chip was not mobile due to a leg injury, so Eddy had to help him out. I spoke   
   to Chip while he was recovering in the hospital after the crash, and he   
   remembered very little, only a few snippets about his personal experiences.   
   Being trained to assess and    
   then open the exit doors in an emergency, Chip told me that after the crash he   
   tried to do this, but saw that one of the exits had a handle and no door, and   
   the other had a door and no handle. He then looked down and saw that one of   
   his feet had a shoe    
   and no sock, and the other had a sock and no shoe. I believed he was in shock   
   after the crash, and though his first thought was to open a door and rescue   
   others, he clearly was unable to do so due to his injuries. Eddy told me at   
   that time that the    
   Mexicans who were working on the ground ran after the crash occurred and   
   didn't return to help. He seemed to me then to be suspicious of their actions.   
   He didn't mention that he had been beaten by anyone on the ground, but then it   
   could have been for our    
   lack of time. I did not see any wounds. He did tell me that at least one of   
   the FAs who died had a premonition during the flight that something was wrong.   
   She stopped him in the middle of the cabin and said, "Don't you feel it? It's   
   so thick you could    
   cut it with a knife." He also said that during the flight, while the   
   passengers were asleep, some of the FAs who later died came to the back, sat   
   down next to him and shared details about their lives. It seemed odd to him at   
   the time, so he remembered    
   saying jokingly, "Who am I, Dear Abby?" (You young folks will have to Google   
   her.) Later, though, he was able to share these stories with their families.   
   To me, Eddy was clearly deeply affected by being a survivor, needed to talk,   
   and I sensed no ego or    
   pride in his story. Rather, I sensed wonder that he was still alive.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)