Family Thanks Pilot for Protecting Daughter During Attack

An airplane is a very enclosed place.  So when a passenger is being unruly, there’s only so much you can do.  You can’t kick him out and you can’t leave.

A flight attendant was trying to calm an unruly passenger down when he went on the offensive.

From Fox News:

Upon landing, Kerr decided not to remain in his seat. Instead, in a scene captured on cellphone video, he pushed forward to the front of the plane, where he shoved and threatened to break the jaw of a flight attendant who tried to stop him.

That’s when the pilot stepped in.  He tackled the passenger, saying, “You do not put your hands on my flight attendant!”

pilot

The family of the flight attendant spoke out to thank the pilot for protecting her.

They also wondered, though, why none of the passengers stepped in.

If you look at the whole footage of the event, he’s being aggressive with the flight attendant the entire time.  They moved up the aisle and no one stepped in.

This is probably due to something called the bystander effect:

The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases in which individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim when other people are present. The probability of help is inversely related to the number of bystanders. In other words, the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help. Several variables help to explain why the bystander effect occurs

But if you watch through the end of the video, in these situations, you shouldn’t help a flight attendant unless you are asked for help.  Still, I couldn’t imagine standing (or rather, sitting) by in some situations where someone might be in danger!

What do you think?

About Jeanne Marie Hoffman

Former bartender, still a geek. One equal part each cookies, liberty, football, music, travel, libations. Stir vigorously. +Jeanne Marie Hoffman Jeanne on Twitter

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One comment

  1. Wow…that is one situation I have yet to face in the air. I think in this situation it would be hard to step in because in my view, the flight attendant is in a position of authority on the flight. It’s especially difficult since it happened during a time when all passengers should have been seated and I, as a passenger, don’t want to disobey the cabin crew.

    That passenger though obviously needed some help in some way and hopefully he was able to get it.

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