wigstheone
Dec 5, 01, 7:18 am
Peter Bradley wasn't a terrorist, but aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 259 nearly 2 years ago he behaved like one. Suffering from encephalitis, a condition that can cause delirium, Bradley pulled out a pocketknife, threatened passengers and assaulted flight attendants who tried to calm him. Then he barged through the cockpit door.
As pilots struggled to control the jet, Bradley pushed the captain and fought the first officer. Passengers tackled him to keep him at bay.
In the months that followed, crewmembers aboard Flight 259 pushed for more protection aboard commercial jets. In a letter this spring to the Federal Aviation Administration and 18 members of Congress, flight attendant Ginny Cavins pleaded for a ban on knives and steps to fortify cockpit doors "to help prevent future incidents."
The letter ended with a chilling plea. "We need your help," she wrote. "Changes must be made. It could be you or your loved one onboard a flight next time an air rage or even a hijacking incident occurs."
The failure of federal regulators to heed her warning, or to remedy security breaches aboard hundreds of flights each year, illustrates a decade-long disregard by U.S. authorities for incidents of in-flight violence, a USA TODAY investigation shows.
During those 10 years, passengers repeatedly assaulted flight attendants. In more than a dozen instances, unruly passengers gained access to the cockpit — or tried to, unsuccessfully. On other occasions, passengers used knives as weapons. Airlines considered costly changes to the doors, and the FAA urged a "zero tolerance" approach to handling unruly passengers. But for all the talk, the agency seldom punished passengers and never ordered airlines to address many of the weaknesses terrorists exploited Sept. 11, when they hijacked four jets and crashed three into buildings.
http://www.usatoday.com/hphoto.htm
As pilots struggled to control the jet, Bradley pushed the captain and fought the first officer. Passengers tackled him to keep him at bay.
In the months that followed, crewmembers aboard Flight 259 pushed for more protection aboard commercial jets. In a letter this spring to the Federal Aviation Administration and 18 members of Congress, flight attendant Ginny Cavins pleaded for a ban on knives and steps to fortify cockpit doors "to help prevent future incidents."
The letter ended with a chilling plea. "We need your help," she wrote. "Changes must be made. It could be you or your loved one onboard a flight next time an air rage or even a hijacking incident occurs."
The failure of federal regulators to heed her warning, or to remedy security breaches aboard hundreds of flights each year, illustrates a decade-long disregard by U.S. authorities for incidents of in-flight violence, a USA TODAY investigation shows.
During those 10 years, passengers repeatedly assaulted flight attendants. In more than a dozen instances, unruly passengers gained access to the cockpit — or tried to, unsuccessfully. On other occasions, passengers used knives as weapons. Airlines considered costly changes to the doors, and the FAA urged a "zero tolerance" approach to handling unruly passengers. But for all the talk, the agency seldom punished passengers and never ordered airlines to address many of the weaknesses terrorists exploited Sept. 11, when they hijacked four jets and crashed three into buildings.
http://www.usatoday.com/hphoto.htm