Behind their smiling facades, flight pursers and stewardesses may just turn out to be toughies trying to take on violence in-flight.
Airline passengers are in for a mid-air surprise. Behind their smiling facades, flight pursers and stewardesses may just turn out to be toughies trying to take on violence in-flight.
The looming fear of terror has now made airlines think of implementing special security measures on flights. Airlines in India have woken up to the fact that their cabin crews need training in judo and karate.
“We feel combat training for cabin crew is called for. Martial arts like judo and karate will help us in the long run. At the moment, this is loud thinking on our part,” said S Venkat, general manager, public relations, Air India.
Though some cabin crew training institutes do teach combat training, they are not sure about unarmed-crew-members-versus-armed-terrorists concept. Captain Raj Shetty, chairman, Comass Aviation, said, “We did train a few batches in combat training. But the idea is impractical and unrealistic when dealing with armed terrorists. The members just do not have it in them to tackle terrorists. We should have sky marshals instead.” Captain Shetty feels Mumbai lags when it comes to ground security. “Our machinery and gadgetry are obsolete. Our counterparts abroad are far superior in this respect. Airports in India should begin rigorous physical frisking, something that is common abroad,” said Shetty.
Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said security at Indian airports was far superior than for other transport systems. “We will have to assess what is practical. Our Bureau of Civil Aviation Security is studying various security measures than can be put in place,” said Patel.
A domestic airport official said Indians would have to get accustomed to frisking. “Frisking of passengers may begin. It is only Indians who resent frisking and complain of discrimination on trips abroad,” the official said.
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