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New Training for Flight
Attendants
Tuesday
October 2, 2001
In a sign of recovery, flights will resume this Thursday at Reagan National Airport in Washington for the first time since the terrorist attacks. In Boston痴 Logan airport, however, officials are admitting to security lapses after an undercover officer boarded a plane with a knife and a pocketful of bullets. This mixed bag of news frightens passengers, pilots, and flight attendants.
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Aviation consultant Agnes Huff says, 的t's gonna be difficult for flight attendants to get up and want to get to work."
Agnes says that since the attacks, some flight attendants have refused to go back to work and others are demanding the right to carry stun guns on board. Now, a radical new idea is emerging. Agnes says, 的 think self-defense, personal preparedness, and martial arts programs are all very good things for flight attendants."
Eight flight attendants are in intensive tae kwon do training. All of them have signed up on their own - determined not to be victims. One says, 的 thought I was a strong young man, I thought I could handle anything before this. But now I realize I can't."
We were invited to shoot this training session as long as we promised not to reveal where the flight attendants work. We can see why: lessons are harsh, including how to break a hijacker's nose, how to paralyze someone by crushing their windpipe, and how to turn the tables if a hijacker grabs you by the hair.
The flight attendants all say they now feel much more confident about going back to work. One says, 的 know what my fingers can do to blind somebody right now. To distract somebody right now, a kick in the groin. They will never walk again if I get my kick and I知 serious."
A task force this week will recommend that all flight attendants go through martial arts training. But will flight attendants with black belts really make people feel better about flying? One flight attendant taking martial arts says it will. 的 think having all the flight attendants feeling confident will communicate a lot to the passengers on the airplane."
Whether this will deter hijackers and assure passengers remains to be seen, but like everyone else involved with aviation, flight attendants are determined to face the enemy and win.
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