Uli Derickson, 60; lead flight attendant on hijacked jet
Posted: Friday, February 25th, 2005 8:37 amUli Derickson, a flight attendant who displayed remarkable courage while dealing with terrorists threatening passengers aboard a hijacked international flight in 1985, has died. She was 60. …
Derickson was the lead flight attendant on TWA Flight 847, carrying 152 passengers and crew on a flight from Athens to Rome on June 14, 1985. Just after takeoff, two Lebanese gunmen commandeered the plane and started it on an odyssey of terror and brutality throughout the Middle East.
The violence was immediate. … In the late 1980s, she acted as a consultant for the NBC-TV movie, “The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story.” Actress Lindsay Wagner played Derickson. The film was nominated for five Emmys in 1988.
She also testified in West Germany at the trial of Mohammed Ali Hamadi, one of the hijackers convicted of murdering Stethem. He received a life sentence. She advised TWA, Delta Air Lines and the FBI on crisis management. Throughout her life, she didn’t see herself as a hero. “They threw me a hot potato, and I had to handle it,” she said. … Read full obituary
