Subject: Words of Wisdom
Finally, some words of wisdom As it was at most airports, last Saturday was the first near-normal day at Denver International since the terrorist attacks. On United's Flight 564 the door had just been locked and the plane was about to pull out Of the gate when the captain came on the public address system. "I want to thank you brave folks for coming out today. 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.He explained that airport security measures had pretty much solved the problem of firearms being carried aboard, but not weapons of the type the terrorists apparently used, plastic knives or those fashioned from wood or ceramics.
"Somtimes 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, brandishing 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. You can overwhelm them.
"The Declaration of Independence says 'We, the people...' and that's just what it is when we're up in the air: we, the people, vs. would-be terrorists. I don't think we are going to have any such problem today or tomorrow or for a while, but some time down the road, it is going to happen again and I want you to know what to do. "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 brought sustained clapping from the passengers. He had put the matter in perspective.... Procedures for dealing with hijackers were conceived in a time when the hijackers were usually seeking the release of jailed comrades or a large amount of money. Mass murder was not their goal. That short talk last Saturday by the pilot of Flight 564 should set a new standard of realism.
...He showed his passengers that a hijacking does not have to result in hopelessness and terror, but victory over the perpetrators