If the cabin crew suspect a passenger is attempting to hijack the plane or harm the plane or passengers, what do they do? Are they required as a flight attendant to try and stop the person?
I know these events are extremely rare, especially with all the new security requirements, but I would like to know if the crew are ready for a situation like this? It would make me feel better knowing that the flight attendants on my plane are trained to deal with any situation that may arise.In the event of a hijacking or emergency in the air, what do the cabin crew do?
It depends completely on the situation and the crew. The crew does train a lot for situations like that, and the top priority is always to bring that plane down safely along with everyone on board. If that can't be done, then the priority becomes doing no harm to the people on the ground. There have been several situations recently where the flight crew sensed a threat to the plane. In most of these, the flight crew doesn't even tell the passengers what is going on; they tell the pilot who coordinates with ground control to make the first available landing at an airport of an appropriate size. You can't land a 777 in a rural airport and can't land most planes when they are full of fuel. In the case of the Shoebomber, the crew overpowered him, secluded him and pretty much kept him from doing anything harmful till they were safely on the ground. In several hijackings of non-US airliners, the crew did whatever the hijackers wanted, because they were outnumbered and overpowered and since the hijackers were after money or release of prisoners instead of on a suicide mission, the safest way to proceed was get the plane on the ground and let the military or police take over from there. Sometimes you have a better chance of surviving if you do exactly what the hijacker says and sometimes you're better off fighting back.
I don't think any FA working today would really honestly be able to say if they themselves are ready for a situation like this till they are actually in one. So many factors are out of your control--- the crew you work with changes from day to day; you might be more prepared to "take down" a hijacker when you are working with one particular FA you know well than when you're not familiar with the rest of your crew. I'd imagine they'd be more likely to take a risk if they're flying over small desert towns instead of a big, busy city (it's a lot easier to decide to do something that might possibly crash the plane if you don't have to worry about killing hundreds of people on the ground). The size of the plane, the number of passengers, and even the kind of passengers can alter the mindset of those responding to such a situation (imagine the difference in confronting a hijacker when the plane is full of big burly college football players as opposed to nuns). My hope for all of them is that they never have to find out.
PS. One of the most important things that flight crews learn is how to control the passengers in a hijack situation. That's such an important part of the response, and highly under-rated. There's times when you really don't need anyone playing hero and it's up to the flight crew to make sure no one panics and makes a bad situation even worse.
We need to have undercover, completely trained, Air Marshalls on every flight.In the event of a hijacking or emergency in the air, what do the cabin crew do?
Trust me, we're prepared, trained, and willing.
Personally, if I were part of a flight crew and that happened, I would do something. Not because it's my job or my responsibility, but it's my life up there too.
The shoebomber, Richard Reed, was stopped by 2 female flight attendants who were injured in the process, but helped save everybody aboard.In the event of a hijacking or emergency in the air, what do the cabin crew do?
For security reasons a crewmember should not answer that question. what are you, a terrorist trying to find out how to avoid being stopped in your next attempt?
Personally, Everything in my power to Permanently stop the hijacker. To hell with the law, it's a matter of self defense.!
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