Naples firefighter saves 2nd life mid-flight

Published: Updated:

NAPLES, Fla. – A firefighter was on plane after his bachelor party in Puerto Rico when he heard a frantic call for help from a flight attendant.

“They were yelling is there anyone on the plane who has medical background? We have an emergency,” Austin Bleiweiss said.

He ran to the flight attendant who directed him to a passenger.

“I saw a male that was laying across all seats,” Bleiweiss said. “He looked grayish. I didn’t see any kinds of life.”

The passenger had gone into cardiac arrest and was not breathing.

“I immediately checked for a pulse,” Bleiweiss said.

There was no pulse.

The medical emergency felt really familiar. Bleiweiss was on a flight from Las Vegas when the man sitting in front of him also went into cardiac arrest.

Today, the firefighter would save his second life on a flight.

He started CPR and shocked the passenger with a defibrillator. Within seconds, the man began breathing again.

“It’s always a really good feeling to get somebody back from a state of death ’cause that’s not always the case,” Bleiweiss said. “I credit the training I received here to do some of the things I’ve done and help the people that I helped.”

Bleiwiss will be back on an airplane in a week as he heads to Nicaragua for his wedding. He said he is looking forward to his marriage and hopes he will have an emergency-free flight.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.