Pilot's words to passengers
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Pilot's words to passengers
Excerpted from Inside the Beltway column in the Washington Times, Sept. 20:
Over the airplane's public-address system came a most incredible announcement from the captain of United Flight 564 as it was about to pull out of the gate at Denver International Airport last Saturday, writes Peter Hannaford, a public-affairs consultant in Washington and former adviser to President Reagan.
"I want to thank you brave folks for coming out today," the pilot began. "We don't have any new instructions from the federal government, so from now on, we're on our own."
The passengers listened in total silence.
"Sometimes a potential hijacker will announce that he has a bomb. There are no bombs on this aircraft and if someone were to get up and make that claim, don't believe him. If someone were to stand up, brandish something such as a plastic knife and say, 'This is a hijacking' or words to that effect, here is what you should do:
"Every one of you should stand up and immediately throw things at that person — pillows, books, magazines, eyeglasses, shoes — anything that will throw him off balance and distract his attention. If he has a confederate or two, do the same with them. Most important: get a blanket over him, then wrestle him to the floor and keep him there. We'll land the plane at the nearest airport and the authorities will take it from there.
"Remember, there will be one of him and maybe a few confederates, but there are 200 of you. Now, since we're a family for the next few hours, I'll ask you to turn to the person next to you, introduce yourself, tell them a little about yourself and ask them to do the same."
The end of this remarkable speech, Mr. Hannaford says, brought sustained clapping from the passengers.
Over the airplane's public-address system came a most incredible announcement from the captain of United Flight 564 as it was about to pull out of the gate at Denver International Airport last Saturday, writes Peter Hannaford, a public-affairs consultant in Washington and former adviser to President Reagan.
"I want to thank you brave folks for coming out today," the pilot began. "We don't have any new instructions from the federal government, so from now on, we're on our own."
The passengers listened in total silence.
"Sometimes a potential hijacker will announce that he has a bomb. There are no bombs on this aircraft and if someone were to get up and make that claim, don't believe him. If someone were to stand up, brandish something such as a plastic knife and say, 'This is a hijacking' or words to that effect, here is what you should do:
"Every one of you should stand up and immediately throw things at that person — pillows, books, magazines, eyeglasses, shoes — anything that will throw him off balance and distract his attention. If he has a confederate or two, do the same with them. Most important: get a blanket over him, then wrestle him to the floor and keep him there. We'll land the plane at the nearest airport and the authorities will take it from there.
"Remember, there will be one of him and maybe a few confederates, but there are 200 of you. Now, since we're a family for the next few hours, I'll ask you to turn to the person next to you, introduce yourself, tell them a little about yourself and ask them to do the same."
The end of this remarkable speech, Mr. Hannaford says, brought sustained clapping from the passengers.
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I actually quite like it. I wish I had the balls to incorporate that in my PA. Let's face it, if there is a bomb, chances are you'll die anyway; and if there isn't, there's a good chance of success.
Certainly after this last episode, I think most passengers would probably do this anyway.
Certainly after this last episode, I think most passengers would probably do this anyway.
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Good for him!
I suspect that the survival prospects for a hijacker at the moment, particularly in the USA, are not too high. I think that the aircraft would probably land with the remains of the hijacker trailing behind in the slipstream attached by piano wire round his neck...
Not quite sure where you'd find a piano on board, but you get the picture...
I suspect that the survival prospects for a hijacker at the moment, particularly in the USA, are not too high. I think that the aircraft would probably land with the remains of the hijacker trailing behind in the slipstream attached by piano wire round his neck...
Not quite sure where you'd find a piano on board, but you get the picture...
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Brilliant stuff. Have forwarded this to everyone in my inbox who travels frequently.
Any EI, BA or FR pilot who says this when I travel out of EICK next - I'll lead the applause!
Any EI, BA or FR pilot who says this when I travel out of EICK next - I'll lead the applause!
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My captain last wed am gave a liitle speech that air travel as we know it has changed, and it is down to every person involved, whether they are working for the airline or a pax to be viligilant and brave in the coming months. Can't give you his exact words as I was too busy dealing with transfer pax, their bags and the dispatcher. Cabin crew came in and said there was stunned silence from the pax and every one of them for the first time ever sat up an watched the safety briefing from start to end.
Great briefing! I think this pilot has substantially reduced the chances of a successful hijack on his aircraft.
In another thread I pointed out that when people are in a crowd there is a tremendous amount of behavioural inertia and it generally takes a command from an authority figure (such as a pilot) to get people to take drastic action that makes them stand out from the crowd (and thus expose themselves to danger). However, once the first person takes action others will generally follow.
And the suggestion from this pilot that the passengers get talking to the person next to them is another tactic likely to increase the chances of mass action against a hijacker. Break down the social barriers between passengers and they are more likely to come to each others assistance and jump into potentially dangerous situations to help each other.
Only one concern though – in the current climate once a hijacker (or suspected hijacker) has been restrained by the passengers he will be very unlikely to make it back down to the ground alive to be handed over to the authorities. Some intervention by the crew would probably be required to calm things down. Why worry about this? Well, really only because given current levels of anxiety there could be quite a few false alarms due to misunderstandings. I’m not going to lose any sleep over someone intent on martyrdom having his mission completed a little earlier than he planned – but I do worry that misunderstandings (perhaps due to language difficulties) could lead to precipitous action by passengers.
In another thread I pointed out that when people are in a crowd there is a tremendous amount of behavioural inertia and it generally takes a command from an authority figure (such as a pilot) to get people to take drastic action that makes them stand out from the crowd (and thus expose themselves to danger). However, once the first person takes action others will generally follow.
And the suggestion from this pilot that the passengers get talking to the person next to them is another tactic likely to increase the chances of mass action against a hijacker. Break down the social barriers between passengers and they are more likely to come to each others assistance and jump into potentially dangerous situations to help each other.
Only one concern though – in the current climate once a hijacker (or suspected hijacker) has been restrained by the passengers he will be very unlikely to make it back down to the ground alive to be handed over to the authorities. Some intervention by the crew would probably be required to calm things down. Why worry about this? Well, really only because given current levels of anxiety there could be quite a few false alarms due to misunderstandings. I’m not going to lose any sleep over someone intent on martyrdom having his mission completed a little earlier than he planned – but I do worry that misunderstandings (perhaps due to language difficulties) could lead to precipitous action by passengers.
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Heard that a pax if middle Eastern origin stood up mid flight to go to the loo on an American domestic flight and all the pax around him started screaming.
One commentator on telly said he took a domestic scheduled flight in America the other day & he was the only pax. Didn't mention the type of aircraft he was travelling on. What paranoia!
Emerald
One commentator on telly said he took a domestic scheduled flight in America the other day & he was the only pax. Didn't mention the type of aircraft he was travelling on. What paranoia!
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I personally think it would be wonderful if more of you pilots did do more personal announcements - I can appreciate that you've a busy job to do, and some of you hate that point where you have to bother talking to your pax, but we in the back like to know that we have a human being for a pilot not a robot who's programmed to give announcements about height, wx and destination etc. A bit of humour the odd time wouldn't go amiss either. Having said all that the only time to do such announcements is before take-off - believe me, as a well-travelled pax, I can tell you that those long-winded announcements given mid-flight about the above topics can't be heard over the noise of the engines depending on where you're sitting. I also know from my many jumpseat flights that the flightdeck is a lovely quiet environment and perhaps you don't realise that doesn't hold for those in the back. Regardless, this guy was superb for taking the time to do this one - follow his lead the rest of you - it's YOUR plane at the end of the day and you're the ones we pax expect to sort out any issues affecting the rest of us.
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Almost sounds like an urban legend but here's another account:
September 21, 2001
Experts: Passengers Should Fight
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 5:53 p.m. ET
Kathy Rockel was amazed when her United Airlines flight last weekend began with an extraordinary message from the pilot: He informed passengers how to rise up and fend off hijackers.
"If anybody stands up and is trying to take over the plane, stand up together, take whatever you have and throw it at their heads,'' she quoted the pilot as saying. "You have to aim for their faces so they have to defend themselves.''
The pilot also said passengers could fight hijackers by throwing blankets over their heads, wrestling them to the ground and holding them until he landed, Rockel said. And referring to the "we the people'' preamble to the Constitution, she recalled, he said, "We will not be defeated.''
"Everybody on the plane was applauding,'' said Rockel, a medical transcriptionist traveling from Denver to Washington, D.C., Sept. 15 on United's Flight 564. "People had tears coming down their faces. It was as if we had a choice here, that if something were to happen we're not completely powerless.''
Peter Hannaford, a public relations consultant on the plane, wrote about the incident in a column published in The Washington Times. He described how the pilot urged passengers to use books, glasses, shoes and other instruments to attack hijackers. His message quickly spread via the Internet.
United Airlines declined comment on the incident. Spokeswoman Liz Meagher said the airline had not changed its policy on what flight crews should say, adding that what this pilot did "is probably due to duress.''
The pilot's message, while unorthodox, is part of a growing feeling among some aviation safety experts in the wake of the terrorist attacks that travelers must be more aggressive in resisting hijackers.
Some passengers on United Flight 93, one of four planes commandeered Sept. 11, apparently rushed the hijackers and are believed to have helped prevent the aircraft from reaching Washington, D.C. The plane nose-dived in a Pennsylvania field -- the only one not to hit a target.
The take-charge approach is a shift in decades-long attitudes by both pilots and passengers that cooperation is the best approach for dealing with hijackers.
But that belief "was based on the fundamental premise that the hijackers are rational human beings and want to live,'' said Raleigh Truitt, a pilot who heads his own aviation consulting firm in New Jersey.
"When you're on an airplane and it's controlled by people who are ... bent on destroying themselves and others,'' he said, "the reaction has to be different.''
John Mazor, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, said pilots are now considering the possibility of heading a public awareness campaign to emphasize that "safety is everybody's responsibility.''
"We're using the term `aggressively defend the airplane,''' Mazor said.
"The danger is we don't want passengers to suddenly be forming posses every time somebody speaks with a foreign accent,'' he added. "There has to be some way of channeling this and making sure it's not unleashed except in cases of dire emergency.''
The union is leading a campaign to improve airline safety and one of the first priorities will be to get a stronger cockpit door, Mazor said. He also said pilots are rethinking their opposition to guns in the cockpit.
"We can't limit ourselves to situations that used to work,'' he said.
This discussion of new air safety techniques come as some pilots and flight crews returning to the skies are taking extra steps to reassure rattled travelers.
Beth Rosen, a suburban Chicago passenger who flew from Paris to Cincinnati last weekend, said the Delta pilot kept his passengers apprised of every step he was taking -- even notifying them when he opened the cockpit door.
"A couple of times he would say, 'Everything's going great. We're flying fine.' You felt like they were your buddies in the cockpit,'' she said.
On the unusual trip to Washington last week, Rockel said, a flight attendant urged passengers to chat with one another and show each other family photos.
Hannaford said he thought the message from the pilot -- who thanked the passengers for being brave -- was terrific.
"There was a palpable sense of relief,'' he said. "My wife and I said, 'What an amazing thing to say.' "
Hannaford said he wrote a letter to United's chairman, praising the pilot.
"What he said was short but sweet,'' he said. "This man ought to get a medal.''
September 21, 2001
Experts: Passengers Should Fight
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 5:53 p.m. ET
Kathy Rockel was amazed when her United Airlines flight last weekend began with an extraordinary message from the pilot: He informed passengers how to rise up and fend off hijackers.
"If anybody stands up and is trying to take over the plane, stand up together, take whatever you have and throw it at their heads,'' she quoted the pilot as saying. "You have to aim for their faces so they have to defend themselves.''
The pilot also said passengers could fight hijackers by throwing blankets over their heads, wrestling them to the ground and holding them until he landed, Rockel said. And referring to the "we the people'' preamble to the Constitution, she recalled, he said, "We will not be defeated.''
"Everybody on the plane was applauding,'' said Rockel, a medical transcriptionist traveling from Denver to Washington, D.C., Sept. 15 on United's Flight 564. "People had tears coming down their faces. It was as if we had a choice here, that if something were to happen we're not completely powerless.''
Peter Hannaford, a public relations consultant on the plane, wrote about the incident in a column published in The Washington Times. He described how the pilot urged passengers to use books, glasses, shoes and other instruments to attack hijackers. His message quickly spread via the Internet.
United Airlines declined comment on the incident. Spokeswoman Liz Meagher said the airline had not changed its policy on what flight crews should say, adding that what this pilot did "is probably due to duress.''
The pilot's message, while unorthodox, is part of a growing feeling among some aviation safety experts in the wake of the terrorist attacks that travelers must be more aggressive in resisting hijackers.
Some passengers on United Flight 93, one of four planes commandeered Sept. 11, apparently rushed the hijackers and are believed to have helped prevent the aircraft from reaching Washington, D.C. The plane nose-dived in a Pennsylvania field -- the only one not to hit a target.
The take-charge approach is a shift in decades-long attitudes by both pilots and passengers that cooperation is the best approach for dealing with hijackers.
But that belief "was based on the fundamental premise that the hijackers are rational human beings and want to live,'' said Raleigh Truitt, a pilot who heads his own aviation consulting firm in New Jersey.
"When you're on an airplane and it's controlled by people who are ... bent on destroying themselves and others,'' he said, "the reaction has to be different.''
John Mazor, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, said pilots are now considering the possibility of heading a public awareness campaign to emphasize that "safety is everybody's responsibility.''
"We're using the term `aggressively defend the airplane,''' Mazor said.
"The danger is we don't want passengers to suddenly be forming posses every time somebody speaks with a foreign accent,'' he added. "There has to be some way of channeling this and making sure it's not unleashed except in cases of dire emergency.''
The union is leading a campaign to improve airline safety and one of the first priorities will be to get a stronger cockpit door, Mazor said. He also said pilots are rethinking their opposition to guns in the cockpit.
"We can't limit ourselves to situations that used to work,'' he said.
This discussion of new air safety techniques come as some pilots and flight crews returning to the skies are taking extra steps to reassure rattled travelers.
Beth Rosen, a suburban Chicago passenger who flew from Paris to Cincinnati last weekend, said the Delta pilot kept his passengers apprised of every step he was taking -- even notifying them when he opened the cockpit door.
"A couple of times he would say, 'Everything's going great. We're flying fine.' You felt like they were your buddies in the cockpit,'' she said.
On the unusual trip to Washington last week, Rockel said, a flight attendant urged passengers to chat with one another and show each other family photos.
Hannaford said he thought the message from the pilot -- who thanked the passengers for being brave -- was terrific.
"There was a palpable sense of relief,'' he said. "My wife and I said, 'What an amazing thing to say.' "
Hannaford said he wrote a letter to United's chairman, praising the pilot.
"What he said was short but sweet,'' he said. "This man ought to get a medal.''
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I started a thread on this very subject three or four days ago that disappeared from the Forum within an hour of my posting it.
In it, I said that most airlines would be forced to re-assess their current procedures regarding hijacking and that we were all overlooking the most obvious and cost effective anti hijacking weapon at our disposal – our passengers, who, after the events of 11 Sept, would be most unlikely to sit by passively in any future attempted hijacking.
I commented that unfortunately, 300 self appointed ‘sky marshals’ might sometimes get it wrong, over-reacting in a situation that might be nothing more than a misunderstanding, (see the post above about some hapless pax with a full bladder as a classic example of this), and that this could have tragic results.
I can only assume that my closing paragraph caused the moderator to ‘pull’ my thread, when I suggested that passengers might also over-react to any disturbance by ‘lager louts’ and so-called ‘air ragers’, possibly meting out summary justice, which, after the first such incident, might just cause other such people to re-consider, (if they are capable of thought), before exhibiting such behaviour in future.
However, reading on other threads about a number of people ‘jokingly’ saying they had bombs in their luggage in this current highly strung climate makes me realise that there are fools out there who have absolutely no idea how to behave in civilised company in any circumstances.
And my congratulations to AA pilot. A bit OTT on the flag waving American rah-rah for my taste, but he knew his audience, and it was an excellent PA, just right for the circumstances. I particularly liked the 'we're all a family here' bit.
In it, I said that most airlines would be forced to re-assess their current procedures regarding hijacking and that we were all overlooking the most obvious and cost effective anti hijacking weapon at our disposal – our passengers, who, after the events of 11 Sept, would be most unlikely to sit by passively in any future attempted hijacking.
I commented that unfortunately, 300 self appointed ‘sky marshals’ might sometimes get it wrong, over-reacting in a situation that might be nothing more than a misunderstanding, (see the post above about some hapless pax with a full bladder as a classic example of this), and that this could have tragic results.
I can only assume that my closing paragraph caused the moderator to ‘pull’ my thread, when I suggested that passengers might also over-react to any disturbance by ‘lager louts’ and so-called ‘air ragers’, possibly meting out summary justice, which, after the first such incident, might just cause other such people to re-consider, (if they are capable of thought), before exhibiting such behaviour in future.
However, reading on other threads about a number of people ‘jokingly’ saying they had bombs in their luggage in this current highly strung climate makes me realise that there are fools out there who have absolutely no idea how to behave in civilised company in any circumstances.
And my congratulations to AA pilot. A bit OTT on the flag waving American rah-rah for my taste, but he knew his audience, and it was an excellent PA, just right for the circumstances. I particularly liked the 'we're all a family here' bit.
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Hi Fubaar
I did read your excellent thread and was quite surprised when it was pulled.
It would appear that some people in the industry are not prepared for the drastic rethinking on security that is coming our way. The train has left the station. Hello...
The next logical step is to provide flight crew with some basic "crowd control" training. A good PA is a very cheap and very effective way to tap the passenger resouce.
There is no one "Magic Bullet" that is going to solve the problem but this is a start in the right direction.
I did read your excellent thread and was quite surprised when it was pulled.
It would appear that some people in the industry are not prepared for the drastic rethinking on security that is coming our way. The train has left the station. Hello...
The next logical step is to provide flight crew with some basic "crowd control" training. A good PA is a very cheap and very effective way to tap the passenger resouce.
There is no one "Magic Bullet" that is going to solve the problem but this is a start in the right direction.
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It looks like the whole airlines industries policies to hi-jacking are going to need a rethink. Untill now the do as you are told and don`t try to overpower the hi-jackers with force, point of view was always thought to be the best by the majority of airlines.
I don`t know, maybe it still might be in most situations.
What I am quite sure of though is can you imagine how passengers are going to react in any sort of hi-jacking situation now. They will just think back to the events in America and can you imagine what most people will think. I have to take this person out at all costs or we are all going to die! This maybe not being the best reaction for the situation in hand.
I don`t know, maybe it still might be in most situations.
What I am quite sure of though is can you imagine how passengers are going to react in any sort of hi-jacking situation now. They will just think back to the events in America and can you imagine what most people will think. I have to take this person out at all costs or we are all going to die! This maybe not being the best reaction for the situation in hand.
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Fubaar....it is our flag...we love it...we are proud of what it stands for....it is ours and we will wave it anytime, any place, and however we wish. If that kind of patriotism and love of country offends you...that is your problem...deal with it! As I recall, the Brits did a bit of the same before, during , and after a small conflict in the Malvinas....oops...the Falklands. It is our turn ol' bean. 
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Hey heloplt
Me thinks that you are overreacting there..
Fubaar intend, as I read it, was not anti-flag, just his opinion on his personal tastes.
His opinion is just that, his opinion....
Stay safe...
Me thinks that you are overreacting there..
Fubaar intend, as I read it, was not anti-flag, just his opinion on his personal tastes.
His opinion is just that, his opinion....
Stay safe...
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I see where one captain on an American internal flight had to order the Arab pax off his flight because the other pax refused to travel with them such was their fear. It's a pity that the alot of innocent Arabs in America are being tarnished with the same brush because of the actions of a few hate crazed fanatics 
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That capt was lucky I was not his chief pilot. I would have suspended him immediately and requested him to see a psychologist to have his mental balance checked.
Hysterics, paranoia and panic have no place in the cockpit of an airliner. This type of clowns are themselves far more dangerous than a terrorist attack.
A sad aftermath to the other day's events is the number of inane, ridiculous "ideas" nitwits from all over come up with.
Hysterics, paranoia and panic have no place in the cockpit of an airliner. This type of clowns are themselves far more dangerous than a terrorist attack.
A sad aftermath to the other day's events is the number of inane, ridiculous "ideas" nitwits from all over come up with.