Air Rage

Until 10 years ago, most people were unaware that incidents of in-flight violence and disruptive behavior had occurred aboard commercial aircraft. However, airline employees had long been aware of incidents regarding problem passengers and the inherent safety threat posed by violent behavior aboard airborne airplanes.

In 1997, the Airline Pilot's Association discussed the issue at the first International Conference on Disruptive Passengers. The conference was attended by more than 200 people from diverse organizations, and the intent of the meeting was to use directed discussions to gain a better understanding of the problem and to determine how to best deal with the issue. The participants cited the causes of incidents of disruptive behavior as follows:

• 25%, alcohol intoxication
• 16%, seat assignments
• 12%, hostile, abusive, or threatening behavior
• 10%, tobacco issues
• 9%, carry-on luggage
• 8%, passenger perception
• 5%, food complaints
• 15%, undetermined causes

Soon after this conference, the media attached the catch phrase “air rage” to these incidents of misbehavior.

It is important to emphasize that air rage is not a new phenomenon. The first recorded incident occurred in a commercial flight in 1947, when an inebriated passenger boarded a flight in Miami that was bound for Cuba. He assaulted a fellow passenger with a bottle and injured two crewmembers who tried to subdue him. At the end of the flight, he was turned over to local authorities but was released due to jurisdictional questions about international flights. This incident led to the creation of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and international laws that awarded jurisdiction over offenses committed onboard an aircraft to the country in which the aircraft was registered. To date, more than 170 countries have signed the agreement, making it the second most successful legal instrument in modern international civil aviation.

Another early incident of misbehavior occurred in 1950, when a mentally disturbed passenger assaulted a crewmember, and required the aircraft's first officer and two passengers to subdue him. In the 1960s, passenger disruption evolved from individual assaults to airline terrorism and hijacking, increasing the potential danger. In May 1962, the first aircraft was hijacked to Cuba. Within a few months, the United States government enacted legislation that made it a crime to commit or attempt to commit air piracy. As the threat of hijacking increased, the ICAO began work on another legal instrument that addressed the legal aspects of aircraft terrorism on an international scale. As a result of wide acceptance of these laws by countries worldwide, the number of incidents of aircraft hijacking decreased steadily. These incidents have not ceased, however, as evidenced by a recent skyjacking of an Afghani Airliner and the September 11, 2001, hijackings of four domestic airplanes by al-Qaeda terrorists, with the resultant destruction of the World Trade Towers in New York City and damage to the Pentagon.

An examination of the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) records of the 1970s reveals the types of behavior that cabin crews have faced for decades. They range from minor unruliness to overt violence, violation of smoking regulations, intoxication, bomb threats, and abuse. The records also indicate the [Page 23]increase in the number of these incidents. In 1978 and 1979 alone, there were approximately 40 reported incidents on the FAA Incident Database Web site.

...