Preventing terrorism in the air: A how-to guide for nervous airline passengers

Op-Ed, Chicago Tribune

November 20, 2001

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/oped/chi-0111200143nov20.story

From the Chicago Tribune

Preventing terrorism in the air
A how-to guide for nervous airline passengers

By Graham T. Allison.

Graham T. Allison is director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard''s Kennedy School of Government and is an expert on terrorism

November 20, 2001

As Americans take to the airways for Thanksgiving, what responsibilities should passengers assume for securing the aircraft against terrorists? Flight attendants routinely instruct those who sit in emergency rows about their responsibilities in the case of an emergency. But what about a security emergency?

Congress, the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration and the airline companies have so far ducked this question. But passengers know that despite improvements since Sept. 11, blatant failures of airport security continue to occur. In the last month, passengers have successfully boarded planes with knives, box cutters and other weapons.

For the days and months immediately ahead, those of us who fly much recognize the possibility of a repeat of Sept. 11.

What to do? The FAA should issue guidelines on airline passengers'' security responsibilities in the case of an attempted hijacking— similar to the current safety instructions. The essence of the security instructions should call on passengers to: be alert (to the unlikely but nonetheless unavoidable possibility of hijacking); be prepared (to join fellow passengers in subduing a hijacker); and be courageous (to act, not just wait for others to deal with the problem).

Specifically, passengers should not follow the standard flight attendants'' mantra, which was reportedly repeated to those on United Airlines Flight 93 that subsequently crashed in Pennsylvania— to keep their seatbelts on and cell phones off. Instead, the dozen passengers closest to a hijacker making his way up the aisle should stand up; throw everything they have in the face of the hijacker to force him to cover his eyes to protect himself; cover him with a blanket and force him to the floor. Everything means pillows, purses, shoes, briefcases, and yes— as I had to explain for a third time to an investment banker on a recent flight to New York— even your laptop. Since many airlines have stopped carrying pillows and blankets to economize, winter coats can serve as a substitute for the blankets that should be reintroduced.

If the FAA took this issue seriously, it would create an "airline security card," equivalent to the safety card found in passengers'' seat pockets, that would spell out these responsibilities and instructions. Better still would be to instruct airlines to "deputize" a half dozen able-bodied male passengers on each flight who would be invited to sit in the aisle seats at the front of the plane and would accept responsibility for acting together to subdue any hijacker who attempted to rush the cockpit— if passengers farther back on the plane failed to do so.

Given the speed at which the FAA acts, for the foreseeable future, we passengers will be on our own. For your next flight, the best advice I have encountered so far comes from an unnamed pilot of United Airlines, summarized in an e-mail by one of his passengers. It reads as follows: "The doors are now closed and we have no help from the outside for any problems that might occur inside this plane. As you could tell when you checked in, the government has made some changes to increase security in the airports. They have not, however, made any rules about what happens after those doors close.

"Here is our plan and our rules. If someone or several people stand up and say they are hijacking this plane, I want you all to stand up together. Then take whatever you have available to you and throw it at them. Throw it at their faces and heads so they will have to raise their hands to protect themselves. The very best protection you have against knives are the pillows and blankets. Use them. Whoever is close to these people should then try to get a blanket over their head --then they won''t be able to see. Once that is done, get them down and keep them there. Do not let them up.

"I will then land the plane at the closest place and we will take care of them. After all, there are usually only a few of them and we are 200-plus strong. We will not allow them to take over this plane. The U.S. Constitution begins with the words, `We, the people''--that''s who we are, the people, and we will not be defeated."

Copyright © 2001, Chicago Tribune

For more information about this publication please contact the Belfer Center at 617-495-1400.

Full text of this publication is available at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/templates/misc/printstory.jsp?slug=chi%2D011120014
3nov20

For Academic Citation:
Allison, Graham. "Preventing terrorism in the air: A how-to guide for nervous airline passengers." Chicago Tribune (2001 Nov 20).