Nicole Pruitt was headed to Tucson, AZ from Atlanta on July 16 to meet her new grandson. What started as a peaceful transit almost became a crisis. She told , “I recall the flight attendant telling the young lady “Ma’am you need to return to your seat” because she was trying to open the cockpit door and the main entrance door.”

Pruitt says once she realized the flight attendant was struggling to detain the passenger, she sprung into action. “At that point, I was looking around and nobody moved. Like literally, they young lady wouldn’t go back to her seat. So at that moment I was sitting in a window seat and I asked the gentlemen beside me “Sir please excuse me”  and I came after her she wasn’t even expecting it.”

Pruitt says that all of her military training prepared her for combat, but this felt closer to home. “This one was very sentimental because we’ll never forget what happened at 9/11. A lot of people paid the ultimate price, and some of them what happened was, they sat idle. That day I was not even playing those games like that. said Pruitt.

Friends and fellow soldiers gathered at Rally Point Grille, a veteran owned restaurant in Evans to honor, and Pruitt is grateful to her friends and family for honoring her heroic act. “I’m happy that I’m still here on ground because that could’ve happened all types of ways.  I’m just so happy that everyone is here it really warms my heart.” said Pruitt.