Violent Airplane Passenger- When to Get Involved

Violent Airplane Passenger- When to Get Involved

Violent Airplane Passenger- When to Get Involved 240 135 Greg Ellifritz

Recent news has been full of stories about violent and out of control airline passengers.  It’s fairly common.  People get nervous about flying.  They often use alcohol and drugs to self medicate.  On my flight home from a training class last Monday, there was a passenger in first class (a white male in his mid 60s) who was so drunk he actually fell down on the jet bridge getting off the plane.

 

Other passengers become irate with crowded airports, regular delays, cancelled flights, and mask mandates.  They lose their shit and attack passengers and crew.

 

Take a look at the article below about the passenger trying to open the door and breach the cockpit in flight.  The airline crew beat him over the head with a coffee pot until fellow passengers restrained him.

 

Emergency Landing After American Airlines Crewmember Hit Erratic Passenger With Coffee Pot

 

What would you do if you were on the flight described above?

 

For me, I’m not getting involved if a passenger attacks another passenger or a crew member.  If I am attacked, I’m going to fight.  If the cockpit is attacked, I will fight.

I’m especially worried about the cockpit attack.  If the attacker crashes the plane, we all die.  I also worry that an armed pilot will fire on the attacker.  Where is his backstop?  That’s right, his backstop is all of us riding in the plane.  Less than ideal.  I’ll beat someone’s ass to prevent being hit by a miss or pass through bullet the pilot fires.