Training Methods Are Updated for Sky Marshal Program
Dec 30, 2001 | 2:26 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Westchester, NY AA P/3MM, DL SM/MM, STW PLT
Posts: 5,490
Training Methods Are Updated for Sky Marshal Program
SEATTLE, Dec. 28 — The Boeing 737 was just reaching 10,000 feet in its flight from Washington to Los Angeles, and the flight attendant told passengers they were free to move about the cabin.
Suddenly, a bearded man in a flannel shirt stood up, holding a box and shouting: "Everybody listen to me! I have a bomb. Do exactly as I say and no one will get hurt!"
Passengers panicked and prayed, but what happened next on this fictitious flight, which unfolded in a simulated cabin on video screens in a two- story office building in Seattle, depended on the reactions of a sky marshal on board.
Respond one way and the situation can be brought under control. Respond another and things quickly spin out of control, said Greg Hoover, a former SWAT officer in Los Angeles and now director of training at the company that designed the program.
"You get stabbed in the front and you get stabbed in the back," Mr. Hoover said, "and multiple terrorists have taken over the plane."
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/30/national/30MARS.html
Suddenly, a bearded man in a flannel shirt stood up, holding a box and shouting: "Everybody listen to me! I have a bomb. Do exactly as I say and no one will get hurt!"
Passengers panicked and prayed, but what happened next on this fictitious flight, which unfolded in a simulated cabin on video screens in a two- story office building in Seattle, depended on the reactions of a sky marshal on board.
Respond one way and the situation can be brought under control. Respond another and things quickly spin out of control, said Greg Hoover, a former SWAT officer in Los Angeles and now director of training at the company that designed the program.
"You get stabbed in the front and you get stabbed in the back," Mr. Hoover said, "and multiple terrorists have taken over the plane."
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/30/national/30MARS.html
Jan 10, 2002 | 4:07 am
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Westchester, NY AA P/3MM, DL SM/MM, STW PLT
Posts: 5,490
Training Sky Marshals is Deadly Serious Business
SEATTLE — For any frequent flier, the scene is so routine, it borders on the invisible.
As the packed jetliner reaches cruising altitude, a flight attendant appears at the front of the plane to announce that passengers are free to move about the cabin. At the rear of the Boeing 737, other stewards prepare coffee and snacks. A few folks stand to retrieve items from the overhead bins.
But the deceptive calm will be shattered by deadly chaos. And I, the flight's sky marshal, am the only one who can stop it. As a strapping man makes his way toward the cockpit, my heart rate soars as my palms press hard into the heavy steel of a Beretta 92F pistol.
This airborne drama is a video-based simulation created by Advanced Interactive Systems, which devised a pair of scenarios that reflect both the events of Sept. 11 and the input of hijacking experts. While security concerns mean that little is known about the federal sky marshal program, founded in 1968 to counter hijackings to Cuba, AIS' simulator provides a look at how future sky marshals might train to protect increasingly threatened skies.
http://www.usatoday.com/hphoto.htm
SEATTLE — For any frequent flier, the scene is so routine, it borders on the invisible.
As the packed jetliner reaches cruising altitude, a flight attendant appears at the front of the plane to announce that passengers are free to move about the cabin. At the rear of the Boeing 737, other stewards prepare coffee and snacks. A few folks stand to retrieve items from the overhead bins.
But the deceptive calm will be shattered by deadly chaos. And I, the flight's sky marshal, am the only one who can stop it. As a strapping man makes his way toward the cockpit, my heart rate soars as my palms press hard into the heavy steel of a Beretta 92F pistol.
This airborne drama is a video-based simulation created by Advanced Interactive Systems, which devised a pair of scenarios that reflect both the events of Sept. 11 and the input of hijacking experts. While security concerns mean that little is known about the federal sky marshal program, founded in 1968 to counter hijackings to Cuba, AIS' simulator provides a look at how future sky marshals might train to protect increasingly threatened skies.
http://www.usatoday.com/hphoto.htm