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& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | | AUGUST 28, 2002 REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK By Patricia O'Connell Self-Defense at 30,000 Feet What do you do if the unthinkable happens on your next flight? You'd know if you took a class that teaches how to foil drunks and hijackers
A man has grabbed the flight attendant and is threatening to snap her neck -- and it looks like he means it. In this post-September 11 world, emboldened, angry passengers push their way forward to defend the flight attendant. A burly guy is even rushing from somewhere behind first class toward the front. Thank heaven he looks big and strong -- he'll probably be able to subdue the guy while other people tie him up with the belts and scarves you've been collecting from passengers eager to help however they can. COMPLETELY FOOLED. Before you know it, however, the big guy has stuck something onto the cockpit door. It's an explosive, he announces. The safety of the entire plane has been endangered. You now realize that in focusing on saving the flight attendant, everyone overlooked the guy who got to the cockpit door. He was able to get there because the disruption was merely a diversionary tactic. Welcome to a Defensive Travel-Corporate Safety Training Program from Flight Watch America, an outfit composed of business travelers and corporate safety specialists. The goal of the group, which was started in September, 2001, by California businessman Don Detrich, is to provide public education and training to assist in thwarting crime and terrorism. I was invited to participate in a four-hour seminar on Aug. 16 in New York City with some two dozen other media people. It was eye-opening, empowering, and yes, a little scary. The scenario described above is just one of the various simulations that trainers Michael Maudlin and wife Dana Maudlin orchestrate over approximately 90 minutes that allow for audience participation. They create situations ranging from a drunk passenger harassing others to incidences of air rage -- which they claim is on the rise since September 11 -- to terrorist threats. LAST LINE OF DEFENSE. Passengers will always outnumber the "bad guys," they point out, and alert, trained travelers could be not only the last line of defense in any of the above situations but, very possibly, the critical one. Alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid, for one, was subdued by fellow passengers on Dec. 22. If a threatening situation arose, they ask, who wouldn't be willing to do something? But who would know just what's required? The organizers believe that fear can either cause people to fall to pieces -- or it can help them focus on appropriate action. They also contend that those who have been educated and exposed to different scenarios -- albeit simulated ones -- are more likely to choose an appropriate course. The Maudlins are both former police officers -- and Dana is now a flight attendant. They emphasize that passengers should act only under the instructions of uniformed flight crew to assist them or act only if the flight crew is incapacitated. FLYING WHILE INTOXICATED. After an hour talk peppered with statistics about flight safety, definitions of air rage, examples and anecdotes, as well as an explanation of the WATCH technique and how to use it (see below), Michael and Dana move us to a section of the room where chairs are set up to simulate a flight cabin. Michael will play a passenger, Dana a flight attendant. At various points, Michael will stop the action, giving the 25 or so attendees a chance to talk about what's going on. I choose an aisle seat near the front of the plane, just as I do on real flights whenever I can. The Maudlins start us off slowly, with Michael playing an obnoxious passenger whose constant drinking makes him the kind of jerk you get as far away from as possible in a bar -- not an option on a crowded flight. In the first "skit" he's a coach passenger who insists on sitting in first class, with Dana trying to encourage him to go to his own seat. Finally, he snaps, and throws a drink at the attendant. Some people yell at him. Others rise from their seats to go toward him. Others just sit in shock. STRONG MESSAGE. Michael stops the scenario and asks what everyone thinks would be appropriate action at this point. Answers include trying to reason with the bellicose traveler to doing nothing, to attempting to subdue the guy. We're told talking to the man might only exacerbate the situation, which hasn't escalated to the point where physical intervention -- attempting to tackle or grab the passenger -- would be warranted. An effective alternative would be for people to stand up -- and do nothing. The mere sign of a group acting in concert communicates a surprisingly strong message, Michael says. Michael and Dana go through the act again, and this time, when he hurls his drink, about 10 of us stand up. Even I can sense the difference between a silent but physically cohesive group and the disorganized, noisy mob we were before. PROTECT THE COCKPIT. The scenarios escalate in intensity, culminating with the one I first described. In each case, action is stopped, we "passengers" offer our thoughts and reactions, and the Maudlins give us feedback. Michael makes the point that the cockpit is a terrorist's Holy Grail. Sure, he can blow up a plane if he has a bomb, but if he wants to do serious damage on the ground, he needs control of the plane. Passengers should do everything they can to prevent the cockpit from being breached. In the eyes of most terrorists (i.e. those not trained to fly), everyone on the plane is expendable, except for the pilot. We also got some advice on what to do in other situations: crashes, mechanical failure, a sick passenger, how to evacuate, how to best protect yourself physically. But the lecture parts of the seminar weren't nearly as effective as the simulations. LESSON LEARNED. You could tell me 20 times to beware of someone making a move toward the cockpit while an accomplice is causing a diversion, but nothing beats seeing it happen, even as a simulation, to sear the lesson into one's memory. From now on, I'll look with more than a bit of suspicion at anyone going to the bathroom or asking for a second drink during a flight. Is a seminar like this borne of paranoia? Even a somewhat skeptical New Yorker like myself might have thought so a year ago. Not now. Sure, statistics and common sense indicate that a crash or mechanical failure is more likely than a terrorist situation, but face it -- what are you really scared about? God forbid I should ever be called upon to do anything more than stand up and look threatening when an obnoxious drunk gets out of line on a flight. But if I have to do more, I now have the knowledge and preparation to at least try. The WATCH List Who: Who and what are around you, at the airport and on the plane. Assess: Assess any antisocial behavior that you see. Tools and Timing What tools do I have with me to subdue an attacker? What tools are within reach? Create a solution Communication, checklist for neutralization of the threat, and consider the consequences of your actions. Help Ask a flight attendant if you can be of assistance, and consider whether any action you're contemplating will help or hinder.  O'Connell is an editor at BusinessWeek Online in New York Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | AUGUST |
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