![]() Retaining such individuals is fantastic for maintaining, and even enhancing, the quality of that service, but often does not correlate with an innate ability to manage conflict or aggression. Those that elect to make a career out of flying tend to take joy in the simple act of delivering a quality service. However, once the excitement of airports and hotels has worn thin, it is the job itself that must provide its own reward. Preparing the Crew Developing the Conflict MindsetĬrewmembers come from many walks of life, and may be attracted to the role for a range of reasons. ![]() All of that said, we cannot ignore the fact that these situations do arise and we must be adequately prepared to handle them. The best restraint is the one that never turns physical mid-air because the passenger in question was removed from the flight prior to departure and left talking to the authorities back at the terminal. While this is common sense, experienced crew will often report that they knew an individual would be trouble as soon as they entered the jetway, yet the passenger was permitted into the confined environment of an aircraft cabin, allowed to drink in the hope it would ‘put him to sleep’ and then, predictably, became unruly and disruptive. Indeed, all possible options should be explored to address troubling behaviour before the passenger boards the plane. After all, the reality is that crew are more likely to have to manage a case of air rage than the host of other safety-related procedures they are trained for, such as ditching at sea or assisting with a premature childbirth. The risk of violence on board an aircraft, while thankfully rare, is a risk like any other faced by the aviation industry, and should be managed with the same thorough and considered approach. How do we keep them safe? How do we prevent them from getting involved and starting a brawl on board? And lastly, we have the other passengers. We do not necessarily know the motivations for their behaviour, what substances they may have ingested, what medical conditions they may have, or any other acute stressors that would ideally be evaluated in any other context. On the part of the passenger, we have an unknown number of variables. With regards to crew, we have a small team of personnel with limited training in physical self-defence or restraint techniques, limited equipment, usually no innate disposition towards conflict, and whose focus must be divided between the unruly individual(s) and the other passengers in their care. There are numerous aspects of an unruly passenger situation that make this category of security threat particularly unpredictable. “…there is an identifiable link between subjects being restrained in a face-down position for extended periods and restraint-related death…” Whatever the impetus for the behaviour – be it alcohol, drugs, a mental health condition, frustration or even an attempted hijacking – cabin crew are nearly always the only line of defence when it comes to preserving passenger and staff safety when violence occurs. There can be few situations more challenging, and potentially dangerous, for an unarmed individual than restraining an aggressive adult 30,000 feet in the air with no possibility of immediately landing or access to police intervention. ![]() So how do we prepare our staff to deal with aggressive, hostile passengers while isolated in an aircraft cabin without security personnel or police to assist them? Joe Saunders identifies the risks involved in physically restraining passengers at 30,000 feet, and discusses how best to mitigate them in order to ensure the safety of all involved. However, we rarely recruit cabin crew based on their conflict resolution or physical combat skills. Airlines usually pride themselves on providing great customer service in a safe and secure environment – and we hire those most suited to perform this task.
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