1. Uli Derickson was a German American flight attendant best known for her role in helping protect 152 passengers and crew members during the June 14,1985, hijacking of TWA Flight 847 by militants linked with Hezbollah.
14 Facts About Uli Derickson
1. 2.
Uli Derickson was born as Ulrike Patzelt on August 8,1944, in Aussig, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
3.
Uli Derickson's family was expelled from Czechoslovakia while she was a child, and moved to East Germany.
4.
Uli Derickson worked jobs as a clerk for a bank and car dealership and held a part-time job as an au pair in the UK and Switzerland before emigrating to the United States in 1967.
5.
In 1985, Russell Uli Derickson retired from his job as TWA pilot.
6.
Uli Derickson was serving as the purser on Flight 847 between Athens and Rome when the flight was hijacked.
7.
Uli Derickson took a kick to the chest from one of the hijackers as he forced her to go with him into the cockpit.
8.
Uli Derickson was the only crew member able to speak German, which left her responsible for translating the hijackers' demands to the pilot.
9.
The plane was diverted first to Beirut, where Uli Derickson first pleaded with the hijackers to release the women on board the plane.
10.
Uli Derickson's family relocated to Arizona from New Jersey as a result of these threats.
11.
Uli Derickson worked at an Arizona real-estate firm before joining Delta Air Lines in the 1990s, where she continued her work there as a flight attendant.
12.
Subsequently, Uli Derickson testified as a prosecution witness at the trial of Mohammed Ali Hamadi, one of the hijackers convicted of murdering Stethem.
13.
Uli Derickson later advised TWA, Delta Air Lines and the FBI on crisis management.
14.
Uli Derickson was still working as a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines when she was diagnosed with cancer in August 2003.