“We have to survive this”

It was the evening of April 19 and other passengers were getting off and on CanJet’s Flight 918. Lindy Comeau-Aucoin and her husband Mike along with 20 other family members were in their seats near the back of the plane anticipating a family wedding in Cuba that week. “My sister, Mike and I were on one side of the plane while our two daughters and my mom were across the aisle and we weren’t really paying attention to anything going on,” said Lindy. “I looked up and saw this guy with a gun coming down the aisle toward us.” “When Lindy said there was a guy with a gun, I told her that we were on a plane and no one could have a gun,” said Mike. “I was wrong.

As the hijacker got closer to the Aucoin family, Lindy had one thought. “I brought my daughters on this trip and I am going to get them killed,” she said. “I stopped thinking that and thought we have to survive this.”

She said her husband as well as her sister Nancy assured her they would be all right, although they kept waiting for more gunmen to show up. “After awhile we realized he was by himself,” recalls her husband. “A security guard convinced the hijacker to go back to the front of the plane. Someone said not to make eye contact with him so we all sort of kept our eyes down.”

Aucoin remembers that other passengers kept calm and quiet. “No one panicked even though we were scared,” he said.

Through the gap between the seats he could see what was going on up front and says the hijacker seemed nervous and jumpy. “He was agitated and because no one would shut the door at the front of the airplane there was arguing and we saw him fire his gun at the co-pilot. We couldn’t tell if he had been hit because we lost sight of him.” “One might wonder why no one tried to overpower the hijacker,” he said. “He was the one with the gun, he was in charge.”

A stewardess told the gunman that the passengers could give him money and they should then be freed. After about five minutes the stewardess instructed the passengers to bring their money up front, leave it in the bag she was holding and then exit the plane. “I grabbed $40,” said Lindy Aucoin. “Mike told me to never mind the passports but just go before the hijacker changed his mind.”

She followed the line to the front thinking the rest of her family was right behind her. “After I put the money in the bag and made the turn to go out the door I realized Jessika was not behind me,” she said. “I couldn’t stop and as I walked through the exit tunnel all I could think was, ‘Where’s Jessika?’” “Once we got into the airport and knew everyone in our family was safe we had a group hug,” she said.

The couple then called their son Sean in Calgary to let him know they were safe.

Security allowed the passengers to make one phone call on the airport cell phones. “People seemed to have it together until they began talking to their families and that’s when many of the passengers broke down,” said Mike Aucoin.

Passengers were escorted further into the airport away from the exit tunnel as there were still crewmembers being held hostage on the plane. Around 6 a.m., five busses took passengers to a resort on the island where they were told to try and relax.

The passengers were brought back to the airport near noon but had to sort through their luggage and belongings from the plane to make sure everything was accounted for. “After we got thinking about it we realized how well the crew handled the whole situation, especially those two brave girls,” said Mike Aucoin.

For his wife, the trip was life altering in a surprising way. “For years, I was afraid to fly because of a bad landing experience years ago and I would always have Mike’s hand in a tight grip when any flight we were on took off,” she said last week. “This whole experience changed my life. I am not afraid to fly anymore.”

When the Jamaica attempted hijacking was resolved, the Aucoins headed to Cuba and went through with the family wedding plans. “That guy was not going to ruin my vacation!” said Mike Aucoin.