Flight Attendant Engine Photo: Controversy Ensues After Passengers Spot Flight Attendant Posing In Plane’s Engine

A flight attendant took an engine photo before a flight, and now major controversy has erupted. According to ABC News, Ericka Paige Diehl was seen posing for pictures inside the plane’s engine while passengers boarded a Spirit Airlines flight at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.

http://t.co/OAy5ATuJaI Shame on us for loving & embracing our job! I stand with Ericka Paige Diehl! pic.twitter.com/Jzmq6ICyEA

— Lindsay (@hashtaglinZ) May 27, 2015

At least one passenger was able to get the flight attendant’s name and sent the information to the local media, asking if this was part of some new “pre-flight checklist” (it’s unclear if that was supposed to be sarcastic). The airline got wind of the incident and seemed quite disappointed.

It was reported that Diehl posted the engine photos to her Facebook page.

“The activity portrayed in the photo absolutely goes against Spirit policy,” said Spirit Airlines in a statement.

The flight attendant wasn’t the first to snap an engine photo, either. Apparently this is something that a lot of airline crew members like to do. It’s a way for them to express themselves, to show that they love their jobs, and to get some pretty cool photos from a position that not a lot of people get to be in.

“I have a picture in a jet engine, and pretty much everybody that I know that has been a flight attendant… it’s just one of those things that we like to do,” explained former flight attendant Sylvester Pittman.

However, taking pictures of any kind when passengers are boarding a flight isn’t customary and might be considered against airline/airport regulations.

According to the New York Daily News, many people have come to Diehl’s defense and hope that she doesn’t lose her job over this (a quick internet search will afford you plenty of photos of airline staff in plane engines). As previously reported by the Inquisitr, several flight attendants have taken to social media to post similar photos and to share their thoughts on the engine photo controversy.

Spirit Airlines says that they conducted an investigation, but they are keeping the details private.

“We investigated it further and we took the appropriate action that goes in accordance to the investigations’ results. Whatever the results of the investigation will stay within our privacy rules for human resources,” said media relations manager Irisaida Méndez.

It is unknown if Diehl has been spoken to or if she still has a job with the airline. What do you think of flight attendants taking engine photos? Is there a time and a place for pictures like this, or should they never be taken?

[Photo via Wikimedia Commons]