Continental Flight Crew: Unsung Heroes

HOUSTON (TheStreet) -- Members of the crew of US Airways Flight 1549(LCC Quote), which landed on the Hudson River, were not the only commercial aviation heroes to emerge this winter. They were just the only ones whose heroism was widely noticed.

On Dec. 20, Continental(CAL Quote) Flight 1404, a Boeing 737-500, veered off the runway in Denver around 6 p.m., hit an embankment and burst into flames. Within 90 seconds, every passenger had been evacuated. There were no fatalities, although 37 people were injured.

Much of the credit for the successful evacuation belongs to three flight attendants who made sure the passengers exited before they did -- even as a fire, burning on the right side of the aircraft, made right side exits unusable, melted overhead bins and caused windows to melt and pop.

Continental Flight 1404 attendants Pamela Howard and Regina Ressler

The three flight attendants were "real heroes," Richard Lowe, one of two pilots flying as passengers that day who also worked to evacuate passengers, told the National Transportation Safety Board. "The epitome of training in action was the flight attendants."

For investors, crew heroism has no direct impact on shares: US Airways President Scott Kirby has said widespread publicity over the miracle landing on the Hudson did not stimulate bookings. But clearly, underlying confidence in a given carrier is enhanced when crew heroism is widely recognized.

In the case of the Continental crew, however, their heroism has not yet been recognized, in striking contrast to the outpouring that followed the miracle landing of 1549.

That incident occurred Jan. 15 in midafternoon, in broad daylight, in a media capital, and the crew's actions were widely reported. Subsequently, the crew members were invited to the inauguration of President Barack Obama and to the Super Bowl, received keys to New York City and bricks from the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., appeared repeatedly on national television and were honored by the airline at an employee gathering in Charlotte, their crew base.