MY STEWARDESS KNOWS KUNG FU
Mar. 20th, 2010 11:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogITEM: The Association of Flight Attendants is lobbying the US Congress to implement more stringent in-flight security measures that include mandatory hand-to-hand combat training for all crew members.
Which would make a great early 70s sexploitation film, wouldn't it?
Of course it would..
It sounds funny, of course, but it’s actually a good idea. Most of the kinds of terrorist attacks they’re likely to face could be thwarted by someone who knows how to fight and subdue someone. It’s how Richard Reid and Mr SizzlePants were stopped, anyway. And it arguably might have stopped at least a couple of the 9/11 planes. It would certainly save more lives than the things we currently do – ban liquids, inspect shoes, force everyone to sit for the last hour of the flight, etc.
That said, the AFA is lobbying Congress for a few other things:
The first one is sensible. The second is probably not realistic. And the third is close to useless as a security measure.
For a start, a “high-threat period” could mean anything (and under the Bush admin, frequently did). Airlines have already been slow to enable Wi-Fi on planes just from the cost factors alone – they're not going to install it just to be told by the DHS to shut it off for the next three months because we're at Code Orange.
More importantly, not a single airplane terror attack has ever relied on someone on the plane communicating with someone on the ground via an Internet connection to pull it off, and I can’t think of a feasible plan that would make use of it, or at least one where disabling the Wi-Fi would foil the entire plan. What's the point of inconveniencing passengers to guard against a possible attack that is already implausible, let alone statistically unlikely?
The combat training is a good idea, though. Of course, once that happens, the trade-off is that we’re ultimately going to see a news story of some flight attendant enforcing the “fasten yr seat belt” sign a little too vigorously. Or punching out imams for praying or something.
FUN FACT: China’s Sichuan Airlines started doing this four years ago.
Taste my fist,
This is dF
Which would make a great early 70s sexploitation film, wouldn't it?
Of course it would..
It sounds funny, of course, but it’s actually a good idea. Most of the kinds of terrorist attacks they’re likely to face could be thwarted by someone who knows how to fight and subdue someone. It’s how Richard Reid and Mr SizzlePants were stopped, anyway. And it arguably might have stopped at least a couple of the 9/11 planes. It would certainly save more lives than the things we currently do – ban liquids, inspect shoes, force everyone to sit for the last hour of the flight, etc.
That said, the AFA is lobbying Congress for a few other things:
- Equip flight attendants with portable communications devices so they can speak to the pilots during emergencies.
- Standardize the size of carry-on luggage so that flight attendants can look for suspicious passengers instead of struggling with oversized bags.
- Shut down onboard wireless Internet during high-threat periods to prevent terrorists from communicating with collaborators on the ground.
For a start, a “high-threat period” could mean anything (and under the Bush admin, frequently did). Airlines have already been slow to enable Wi-Fi on planes just from the cost factors alone – they're not going to install it just to be told by the DHS to shut it off for the next three months because we're at Code Orange.
More importantly, not a single airplane terror attack has ever relied on someone on the plane communicating with someone on the ground via an Internet connection to pull it off, and I can’t think of a feasible plan that would make use of it, or at least one where disabling the Wi-Fi would foil the entire plan. What's the point of inconveniencing passengers to guard against a possible attack that is already implausible, let alone statistically unlikely?
The combat training is a good idea, though. Of course, once that happens, the trade-off is that we’re ultimately going to see a news story of some flight attendant enforcing the “fasten yr seat belt” sign a little too vigorously. Or punching out imams for praying or something.
FUN FACT: China’s Sichuan Airlines started doing this four years ago.
Taste my fist,
This is dF
