Officer Cunningham immediately headed to the scene of the crash, directing a passing ambulance to follow him to assist with the rescue.
When he arrived at the scene, Officer Cunningham began assisting those in need. Officer Cunningham worked with the airplane's crew to rescue the passengers, providing the crew with his knife to cut passengers free from their seats as he carried or directed them to safety.
Just as crew members believed they had cleared the plane of all the passengers, Officer Cunningham realized that the tail of the plane had been torn off in the crash and passengers were still trapped in that section of the plane. The seats of the airplane had been ripped from the floorboards; luggage and debris covered the remaining passengers making it difficult for rescue workers to reach them.
Without regard for his own safety, Officer Cunningham ran into the burning tail of the plane without any protective gear. He cleared a path for rescue workers to reach the remaining passengers and began carrying passengers to safety, not stopping until the last passenger was removed.
According to his former commanding officer Albert Pardini, "Officer Cunningham was in the midst of a disaster and immediately went into action. He had sufficient time to assess the situation and make the decision to approach the aircraft—which could have easily exploded into a ball of fire—so he could rescue the passengers and crew."
