I hadn't particularly planned on watching it, but I caught it last night.

Not bad, and I think it shows promise, at least as far as being realistic and providing decent information. I don't recall really rolling my eyes at any of the suggestions. Oh, except for using the cell phone as a diversion. That seemed almost James Bond-ish to me, but in all fairness, the point was to create a diversion. Whether you used the cell phone or not was beside the point.

Landing a commercial airliner seems crazy, but the Mythbusters also demonstrated that it's possible for untrained people to successfully be talked through a landing (at least in a simulator) so I wouldn't say it's impossible.

There was one thing that I thought was lacking, which is typical on TV shows that suggest violence (and I'm not claiming any sort of fighting competence!). It was about taking on the knife wielding hijackers. Although he suggests using something as a shield and making the comment that in a knife fight, the one who bleeds least, wins, I didn't think the show really made clear that you're going to be cut in a knife fight. None of the good guys bleed after subduing the bad guys even though the show isn't shy about showing blood.

Granted, adrenaline may mask the pain, but are most folks mentally prepared to be cut or stabbed? On the show, they basically just dog piled on the hijackers, but if you ever watch those security videos from prison attacks, it's not uncommon to be stabbed and slashed multiple times in any encounter. Would the average person keep going after getting ice picked a few times in quick succession? Maybe not, if you're not mentally ready to keep fighting.

Of course, the show throws a lot of information at you (well, they do have to fill up an hour!). In the heat of a life or death situation, I doubt most of us will remember even 5% of something we watched on a TV show a couple years ago. Once that adrenaline is pumping, only the most basic decisions or well rehearsed actions are going to kick in.

I'm also wondering, post-9/11, what kind of terrorism training flight attendants have received and whether they would take a more active leadership role than they did on the TV show last night?

To me, these programs are still primarily entertainment, but I think I might make a point to catch the next one, which is more near and dear to me--an office building fire.

I agree. Sure, the concept of overthrowing the hijackers and landing the jumbo jet is pretty Hollywood (though grounded in the reality of 9/11). But I felt the individual pearls about dealing with the situation were valid and clearly came from the input of real practitioners. The prisoner control methods & the psychology behind them were accurate. The application of an occlusive dressing to a sucking chest wound was appropriate, and the point that a spontaneously breathing patient does not need CPR is dirt-simple but rarely highlighted on TV.

Mindset is more important than tactics, skill or equipment and the show highlighted mindset over all other factors. I especially liked how the host set the example of making the most use of other peoples' skills and abilities, and working to keep his cohorts calm.

I think this one episode has already put the show in a class beyond "Man vs Hotel" and I look forward to the future episodes.



Agreed, I feel that the structure fire scenario will be more widely applicable for most folks.

There have been occurrences where SF trained individuals and US military personnel have been on aircraft subject to hi-jacking. The result was usually they ended up being the first thrown from the aircraft onto the runway after being shot or stabbed.

Here is some US government advise for what to do in a Hijacking.

http://ntc.doe.gov/curriculumareas/cita/ci_awareness_guide/T4travel/Hijack.htm

Now if in an emergency situation such as a airline hijacking and I had Cade Courtley in my face saying "I'm Cade Courtley and I'm about to save your life" I just know that my day has just gotten a whole lot worse. Now of course if the aisle was filled with Aberdeen Casuals, Millwall bushwhackers or even some Hells Angels then retaking the aircraft might be a different story.

Cade Courtley doesn't even have a facial twitch.

In fact, there was at least one that survived both H and N. Talk about a string of bad luck. That said, he is still alive today I believe.

Greg
(always amused at what gets posted about nukes and radiation on this board)

We have a family friend who is a Chief Attendant on flights for a large airline beginning with A*, and she says less training than you would expect. Honestly though she didn't go into details when I asked sometime after 9/11. She said several co-workers of hers are fairly proficient at self-defense. And that doesn't mean they don't discuss scenarios and how they could react. Usually its with the care for the condition of the craft and passengers, which may be a little conservative for some of the rest of us, but the reality is that until you know or have reason to think otherwise a hijacking may not end with everyone dead. I think its highly situational how they would react to an in-air hijacking. In the exact scenario outlined last night, including a locked cockpit takeover, probably you would attempt to subdue the hijackers and enter the cockpit, because that scenario admits the distinct possibility that you are not really a hostage but are so much hamburger sitting on a large jet fuel projectile. Anyway, this show will give us something more to talk about at the next bbq.

If anything I wonder if in reacting to such a scenario, would you apply additional lethal force to the hijackers? Frankly I wouldn't stop at subduing them, not if it meant a possibility of them escaping and getting up and renewing their attack on the plane at some critical juncture. Good point to focus on disabling blows to the larynx or airway. I can think of several surfaces on a jetliner that should crush their skulls and render them unconsious, maybe worse. Brutal, but more effective. Maybe too much for the season opener, or for cable.

I think also marshalling enough force among passengers to take on the hijackers and overcome them could be tough - not everyone watches Spike / cable.

Perhaps pre-9/11, but I think now would be a different story.

Pete

Maybe so - no shortage of willing bodies, I was referring to willing bodies ready to mount an attack along similar lines. The guy on TV said you would have to use hand signals and other non-verbal cues to set things up. Looking around an airplane cabin I might see 2-3 people who would react with the right sort of aggression, but how to make sure they can, or will do so?

I didn't see anything that I thought was really bad or wrong advice (not that resisting hijackers or flying jumbo jets are my areas of expertise), but I gotta say the host reminded me a little of Bear at times, and not in a good way.

You guys are right, the days of passengers sitting passively by as hijackers take over the plane/guided missile are probably over. Along that line, I'm glad he made some effort to explain the necessity for the overwhelming application of extreme and brutally violent force in that sort of life or death struggle. It goes against our civilized natures, but that's what it takes. As the homeowner explained when the cops asked why he shot the robber six times, "my gun only held six bullets." It pays to be sure.

I'll watch future episodes with interest.

Maybe the source for that line--and perhaps more topical to the pedophile thread:

"I suspect the only reason 110 rounds was all that was fired was that's all the ammunition they had," Judd said. "We were not going to take any chance of him shooting back."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,216898,00.html

Okay, something that finally occurred to me (I'm a little slow sometimes, but I eventually get there):

They showed everyone's purse/bag being stowed in the rear lavatories.

Does anyone know if they really do that when they have time to prepare for a hard landing? I sure wouldn't want to be evacuating the plane without my wallet, keys, cellphone, pda, ID, ATM card, etc.

If so, then I'm going to be wearing loaded cargo pants if I ever fly again!