Unruly flyers may be handcuffed

New Delhi: Unruly passengers on Indian flights might soon be handcuffed to their seats or tied up, if the government decides to adopt worldwide practices.
After the February 1 hijack scare exposed the lack of stipulated measures to tackle such a situation, the government is laying down a stiff protocol to handle difficult flyers.
"We all learn from experience. India will adopt the best practices in vogue in airline industry to ensure flight safety, including steps for controlling unruly passengers," civil aviation minister Praful Patel said. Crew in foreign carriers are known to use plastic handcuffs and other devices to confine inebriated or violent passengers to their seats but it is not clear if India is ready for similar measures.
"The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is framing guidelines for handling disruptive passengers. We will look at this framework along with other best practices abroad," Nasim Zaidi, chief of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, said.
The need for guidelines figured prominently at a review meeting called by cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar on Saturday to discuss last Sunday's IndiGo hijack drama. The suspicious behaviour and alleged verbal threats of a passenger had led to fears that the IndiGo flight, 6E 334, was facing a hijack situation.
"Air India routinely has passengers getting dead drunk on sectors such as Bangkok. Usually, the senior cabin crew tackle such passengers — in some cases, a couple of slaps help to get them under control. But now, the airhostesses and otherwise cabin crew need to be trained to handle such situations," said a senior aviation ministry official.
While the hijack scare was an extreme case, even in the recent past, planes have been forced to make emergency landings in order to offload disruptive passengers. Foreign airlines tie up such passengers so that they don't endanger flight safety.
Sources said the meeting, attended by secretaries in the ministries of home, defence, civil aviation and external affairs, saw emphasis on two factors — faster decision-making, a lapse highlighted during the hijack scare, as the plane’s doors opened over two hours after it made a safe landing; and training for crew to tackle difficult passengers.
08/02/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Categories: Safety Feb 2009