Two "Grandpas" restain rowdy passenger on NW flight.

[Kev3188]

I found this over on a-net...Link might require registration, but try anyway; it's pretty good. Note the wife's comment at the end. Classic.


Article is here


Shortly before landing, Bob Hayden and a flight attendant had agreed on a signal: When she waved the plastic handcuffs, he would discreetly leave his seat and restrain an unruly passenger who had frightened some of the 150 people on board a Minneapolis-to-Boston flight Saturday night with erratic behavior.

Hayden, a 65-year-old former police commander, had enlisted a gray-haired gentleman sitting next to him to assist. The man turned out to be a former US Marine.

"I had looked around the plane for help, and all the younger guys had averted their eyes. When I asked the guy next to me if he was up to it, all he said was, 'Retired captain. USMC.' I said, 'You'll do,' " Hayden recalled. "So, basically, a couple of grandfathers took care of the situation."

. . .

Hayden's wife of 42 years, Katie, who was also on the flight, was less impressed. Even as her husband struggled with the agitated passenger, she barely looked up from "The Richest Man in Babylon," the book she was reading.

"The woman sitting in front of us was very upset and asked me how I could just sit there reading," Katie Hayden said. "Bob's been shot at. He's been stabbed. He's taken knives away. He knows how to handle those situations. I figured he would go up there and step on somebody's neck, and that would be the end of it. I knew how that situation would end. I didn't know how the book would end."

 

[jenny@nw]

Sounds like they had just as much fun like I did. I always have fun at work!

Passengers: yeah that "I know how that will turn out" attitude is familiar. Back in the day my girlfriend who was franticly trying to resuccitate a guy was interupted by a passenger... telling her

"When you're done, I'd like to have a cup of coffee"


the demise of western civilization is nigh.....

 

[SKY HIGH]

Subdue Two Men Onboard NWA Flight
Tue, 05 Jun '07

Suspects Began Screaming, Rolling In Aisle
What, exactly, happened onboard a recent Northwest Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Boston? That's the question federal investigators are now contemplating, while a former police officer is being called a hero for his role in subduing two passengers.

Boston's WBZ-TV reports Bob Hayden, a retired 28-year veteran police officer and former Lawrence, MA police chief, was a passenger on Northwest Flight 720 this weekend. Hayden says that even before the plane took off, one man started to act strangely -- pacing up and down the aisle, apparently aggravated. A flight attendant forced the man into his seat after he refused to heed the crew's requests to sit down.

After the plane took off, Hayden says the same man began screaming, before falling into the aisle. At first, Hayden says he thought the man was having a heart attack -- but when another man also started acting strangely, pulling luggage out of the overhead bin, it became clear to him something else was going on.

"He jumped out of his chair, laid on the floor, and started thrashing his legs and screaming," Hayden said. "People were nervous. The lady in front of me actually started to cry."

Flight attendants once again helped the screaming man back into his seat... but the passenger continued to yell throughout the rest of the flight. And when the plane's pilot announced the initial descent into Boston, things took yet another suspicious turn.

"They jumped out of their seats again, like something out of "The Manchurian Candidate, and did they're rolling on the floor, and yelling," Hayden said.

With the help of an ex-Marine onboard the flight, Hayden worked to subdue the men.

"We forced one into his seat, and the one on the ground, I flipped him over and landed him on his stomach," Hayden said. The two then buckled both men into their seats, and stood guard over them until the plane arrived at the gate.

Officials then took the men away for questioning, and for psychiatric evaluations. They are not facing charges at this time.

Hayden says he suspects the event was staged. For what reason, however, isn't clear.