Thomas C. Scott

Thomas Chalmers Scott (born October 13, 1950) was one of 17 crewmembers aboard Lufthansa Flight 540 when it crashed on takeoff November 20, 1974 in Nairobi, Kenya, en route to Johannesburg, South Africa. It was the first-ever operational wreck of Boeing’s 747 jumbo jet, which had been in commercial service about five years.

Scott, who was in a crew seat over the left wing, escaped the impact unhurt and was credited with saving the lives of a dozen passengers by guiding, pushing, or carrying them away from the fuel-soaked fuselage just before it exploded. Fifty-nine of 157 people aboard died.

Scott, of Orange County, California, was a commercial pilot in the US prior to his employment with Lufthansa, out of Frankfurt, West Germany. He was working as a cabin crewmember in line for the next pilot’s position that opened up.

The crash was front-page news around the world and Scott was singled out as the hero of the day. The Los Angeles Times reported the accident under the headline, "Jet Crash Hero: Survivors Laud Newport Beach Man.”

Scott was quoted as saying the aircraft shuddered violently just before impact. "We knew there was something wrong at about 150 feet and knew what was ahead of us."

Among the survivors of the wreck was a group of German-born Jews who were returning to the US from a Holocaust-related pilgrimage. One of them, Renate Kahn of Dallas, Texas, was a child when her family escaped [...] Germany in 1939. "We would all be dead if it hadn't been for him," she said of Scott.

Scott continued flying for Lufthansa for several years after, eventually moving back to southern California where, in 1983, he became a professional investment advisor and later opened his own firm, Scott Wealth Management of Irvine, Orange County. He is a regular contributor to Forbes.com on investment ethics and psychology.

His book, “Fasten Your Financial Seatbelt,” is scheduled for publication in early 2009 by Platform Press.