Surgeon in the Skies

What happens when a life-or-death medical emergency unfolds at 35,000 feet… and there is a surgeon onboard?

This week on The Red Eye, we bring you one of the most extraordinary true aviation stories ever to reach our inbox - a tale that was told to our writer not in a galley, bar or crew room, but in the side room of a hospital emergency department.

While a surgeon was treating our writer’s son for a collapsed lung, she casually mentioned a layover in New York and the surgeon froze.
“I don’t suppose you were on that famous flight where…”
And with that, this story began.

In Surgeon in the Skies, we take you back to Hong Kong, 1995, where a routine long-haul flight became an airborne operating theatre. With only a basic medical kit, a coat hanger, a knife and fork, repair tape, and a bottle of First Class brandy, two doctors, Professor Angus Wallace and Dr. Wong, performed an emergency surgicaln procedure in the back row of a 747 - saving a passenger’s life mid-flight.

This gripping episode blends true aviation history, medical drama, and the incredible resourcefulness of cabin crew and passengers when the stakes couldn’t be higher.
No exaggeration: this remains one of the most legendary real in-flight medical events ever reported. And it's still studied by medical professionals today!

If you love aviation stories, true survival tales, behind-the-scenes airline moments, and unbelievable but true emergencies, this is an episode you’ll never forget.

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Kaylie has written 6 other fictional novels about the lives of cabin crew!

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The Red Eye Podcast is written by Kaylie Kay, and produced and narrated by Ally Murphy.

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Ally Murphy is a former flight attendant, and a British voice over artist based in the USA, visit www.allymurphy.co.uk

Kaylie Kay is a flight attendant and author based in the UK. You can find more of her work at www.kayliekaywrites.com

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