Passenger restraining devices - when to use?

[Mo Heekan]

I'd like opinions please of what;

a. You company regulations are regarding the use of PRD's
b. Your personal 'limit' when you deem that these devices should be used.

Our book says' if the passenger/s pose a danger to the crew or aircraft'. A bit wishy-washy really, so I'd appreciate any input.

Cheers

Mo

[Captain Stable]

Too hard to elaborate.

Since it would not be wise for the general public to think they know too much about airlines' security arrangements, I won't discuss specifics here, but so much depends upon the circumstances prevailing at the time.

It is only the crew who can judge these. My personal advice to any Captain or #1 would be to use their judgement. The only criterion is whether there is a danger to the aircraft, passengers, cargo or crew. If, in their opinion, there is such a danger, then use whatever means you have to secure the situation. PR is not a consideration, nor are the hurt feelings of the passenger in question, his friends or relatives.

If anything is endangered, the remainder of the passengers need to see that the situation is being addressed and contained as rapidly as possible to avoid panic, or to avoid their wanting to "help". In some situations, of course, such help may be welcome and necessary, but it must be controlled by the responsible crew member. You can't afford people wading in willy-nilly and confusing an already dangerous situation.

Having restrained a passenger, my personal recommendation would be for them to remain restrained for the remainder of the flight. This may be complicated, because at all times when they are restrained, one crew member will have to watch them. If there is quite some time to go, a diversion may be desirable.

On arrival either at destination or diversion airfield, police AND airport security should be in attendance immediately the aircraft arrives on stand.

Skipper then sighs heavily and wonders what the heck to put in the MOR! ;)

[fantom]

they should all be restrained during boarding.

:p

[Mo Heekan]

Thanks Capt Stable,

I appreciate your relucatnace to delve into specifics; I agree and do not want anything published that may be detrimental to airline security.

Your thoughts and suggestions are appreciated. A friend of mine recently applied 'the devices' and detailed a CC to give him a check and sips of water every 15 minutes. When asked if he could go to the toilet, the Capt refused, so he had to 'pissinsitu'. The police saw his wet trousers on arrival and refused to put him in their car, so he had to wait 45 mins to be carted off in an open truck.

Amazingly he went from very loud, obnoxious & aggressive to meak and mild.

Any more thoughts please?

[Captain Stable]

Checking on them every 15 minutes is not, to my mind, sufficient. If any other passenger were to have a pop at them in the meantime while they are defenseless, the airline would be held liable. You also want to ensure that they do not quietly work themselves lose when nobody is watching. Most restraint devices work pretty well, but are not foolproof. I would advocate what I said earlier - assigning one crew member to them for the remainder of the flight.

On the question of the use of the toilet, that also depends on the individual circumstances, the nature of the restraint device, how convincing the passenger is in persuading the crew he's calmed down, etc. etc., but I have every sympathy with the captain's position in this case, and "p*ss in situ" is the direction in which I would err every time.

Since many such cases tend to be aggravated by drink, use of the toilet is going to be more of a problem than it would with your average passenger who hasn't indulged himself liberally with the electric tinctures. So it can be expected to be a problem more often that you might imagine.

My final thought on such matters is that, when other passengers see the sort of measures that an airline is prepared to take to secure the safety and comfort of all passengers, it can only have a good effect. Firstly, it inspires rather more confidence in your airline, which is therefore good for ticket sales over your rivals, but also it will act as a deterrent for anyone contemplating the same sort of behaviour, who will realise that they cannot get away with it, and also realise the consequences.

[flapsforty]

Mo, used the handcuffs once in 20 years.
That was after all other options had been tried and had failed.

It's scary as hell to try and put them on a raging totally berserk passenger, and amazingly the guy kept on screaming and spitting and trying to bite for 9 hours solid.

Not sure how the liability works in other countries.
But in this case the perp sued both the company and myself for causing grievous (sp?) bodily harm, food deprivation & humiliation because I didn't unshackle him to use the toilet.

He lost on all counts.
The judge found it to be the passenger's own fault that I had been unable to double-lock the handcufs to prevent them from cutting into his wrists because the passengers refused to stand still and kept struggling.
As teh pax tried to bite everyone that came near him, the food deprivation claim also lacked credibility.
Lastly the request to use the toilet was dismissed as "ridiculous" by the judge.

Having a large number of pax willing to witness was a GREAT help. I was very happy I had taken the time to write down some names and phone numbers, even if my mind was hardly on administrative stuff at the time.

Would I use the handcuffs again?
You bet I would, but only after having tried everything else in the book!

[Captain Stable]

Mo, Flaps raises an extremely good point which I cannot echo and emphasise strongly enough - Get witness names addresses and phone details.

It is very well having other crew members being willing to testify in any future court case, but much more credibility will be added if other passengers back up what the crew members are saying. It will also assist should, god forbid, the offending passenger turns out to be an old school friend of the company's commercial director or chief accountant or similar... :eek:

[Mo Heekan]

Thanks again Capt Stable & flaps40,

All valid points and worth serious thought.

The actions that i mentioned were amazingly positive. The CC loved the fact that the Captain backed the crew to the hilt and the pax were in awe at the swift action that followed the Captains decision to apply such devices. I only wished I was there to see it in action.......

Thanks again chaps.

Regards

Mo