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Baby born at 33,000 feet during long-haul Finnair flight
Back in the summer I posted about a woman going into labor on a Korean Air flight and giving birth at 37,000 feet. Now comes the latest high altitude delivery. A Swedish woman traveling on a Finnair flight today gave birth to a baby girl at 33,000 feet while flying over Kazakhstan on her way from Helsinki to Bangkok.
Who came to the woman's aid? Luckily there were two doctors and two nurses among the 227 passengers on this 11-hour flight; they quickly responded, stayed by the woman's side and saw her through the delivery (technically, they only assisted the birth, since there was a satellite hook-up to medical service on the ground).
Finnair says it's the first time a baby has ever been born on one of its flights, and is reportedly giving the new family a free return trip from Bangkok.
Both mother and new born daughter are reportedly doing fine.
Filed under: Airlines
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Doug Nov 20th 2008 6:40PM
Why would you describe the incident as "two planes collide".Are you just trying to get people to read your article? The fact is that the ground crew responsible for relocating the planes to the maintenance facility was responsible for a MINOR collision. You insinuate by your language that it was a catostrophic event and that the airline involved is unsafe. Sounds to me like you have a personal issue with this airline. Did they lose you luggage or something?
Ivy Nov 20th 2008 7:45PM
I think the baby is adorable and that's quite an interesting place to give birth. Kind of makes you wonder - where would the child's place of birth be? 'Oh I was born on a plane trip while flying over Kazakhstan on the way from Helsinki to Bangkok'. Something to consider, no?
deb Nov 22nd 2008 2:43AM
The plane is considered sovereign territory of the country it is based in. A plane flying from Canada to France would be Canadian territory until it touched down in France.
Ivy Nov 22nd 2008 11:44PM
That's rather interesting knowledge. Thanks, Deb!!
R Lamb Nov 20th 2008 9:20PM
Ivy, that's a very good point. Where would the child's place of birth be?
Babies must be born on ships, also. Maybe there's a protocol for determining the place of birth in such circumstances.
PJ Nov 21st 2008 8:14PM
my neice was born on a cruise ship, and her place of birth was the latitude and longitude of the ship at the time of her birth. Her birth cert. was filed in the state the ship left from and returned to.
Sam McGowan Nov 20th 2008 10:38PM
I see your newsletter referred to on AOL, then when I read the article it is something very minor. Having spent my entire life in aviation, both military and civilian, I am really put-off by articles that try to make something look like a major accident when it is really a minor incident undeserving of mention except, perhaps, in a maintenance magazine. I can't for the life of me understand why AOL bothers to link to this crap.
Kels Nov 21st 2008 8:33PM
wow. calm down Sam. It's just entertainment news. If you're so bothered by it then don't look at them or read them... not that difficult to do.
basketpam Nov 22nd 2008 12:29AM
Hear, Hear!! I agree. I'm so sick of AOL taking all these tiny little stories and trying to make something sensational out of them. They do it constantly with certain celebrities like Miley Cryus. I personally believe AOL is on a one news media campaign to destroy that child's career. They keep taking the tinest nothing little normal thing that girl does and give it this outrageous headline to make her look bad. They'll take a picture of her in the middle of a word and say she's made a celebrity OOPS! Yea, you say a sentence and not be in a smile the whole time! It's CRAZY and I don't even support the girl's career or anything. I just know a garbage story when I see one. And I'm not saying this because I'm some giggly teenager, I'm a 47 year old career business woman but I can spot a slam news job just as well as anyone else. I have just become so appalled at how low and disgusting the media has become in this country that I think the constitutional section giving such thing as freedom of the press needs to be reversed. They have taken this right and freedom and so abused and misused it that what they do in the 21st century doesn't have a shred of anything close to journalism with integrity and values anymore. I bet I can count on my one hand the number of news pieces on AOL in the last year that would be considered journalism with outstanding or even good quality. A reporter can write any piece of trash in this country and the world just reads it. It's our fault because our society has stopped teaching and expecting anything of value anymore. Anything goes, baby! When did we stop expecting quality? I firmly believe the internet has ruined journalism and reporting because there are probably 10,000 sites around the world and there is no competetion anymore. Anyone with any piece of rubbish can get it published somewhere. As long as sites have stuff to throw on their site they don't care where it came from, who it's from, what it's about, when it's going on and how good it is. Reporters - remember those things that must be in every good story? I never see them anymore. I wrote better twaddle in high school for the school paper when I was 16 years old than I see on the internet these days. I'm just glad someone finally said it besides me.
CryBaby Nov 25th 2008 2:57PM
BasketPam, very very good comment posted. I agree with all that you say. It is appalling how the media "reports" such tiny little nothing stuff as something deserving attention. I kick myself everytime I read one of these idiotic "articles". When will I learn!
Wendy Nov 21st 2008 9:03PM
Huh? When I flew when I was pregnant, they asked me when I was due. I was not allowed to fly in my third trimester. Okay, so I probably LOOKED like it was in my third trimester, as I was carrying twins, but still....How did she get on board that late in her pregnancy???
P..J. Nov 21st 2008 9:41PM
Maybe she was Sarah Palin lololol.
Kilbey Nov 21st 2008 11:46PM
That is exactly what I was wondering!?!? Why whould someone that close to delivering even consider traveling such a distance?
Pj Lover Nov 21st 2008 9:04PM
When i read this, it was very impreesive. All of your stories admire me.
Eden Nov 21st 2008 9:08PM
Hey, This IS a miracle!
Josh Murphy Nov 21st 2008 9:09PM
Hey, i know you Eden! But, your right It was a miracle!
aleah Nov 21st 2008 9:27PM
that is the cutest baby ever!!!!!!!!!!!! it is a miracle how it was born!
kevin Nov 21st 2008 9:43PM
hey aleah i know you. anyway that was a miracle!!!!!! i mean it was soooooo awesome. the baby was born a miracle
The Dude Nov 21st 2008 10:32PM
"(technically, they only assisted the birth, since there was a satellite hook-up to medical service on the ground)"
No, it's the other way around, the doctors on the plane delivered the baby with assistance from the ground.
They gave the lady who inconvenienced everyone a free ticket, but what about the doctors who worked on the plane? If I delivered a baby on a plane I would send the lady a bill.
liz Nov 21st 2008 11:06PM
you're obviously kind of an asshole then