ABOARD FLIGHT 564

September 19, 2001 ~ The Washington Times
September 22, 2001 ~ Rocky Mountain News

UNITED PILOT'S SPEECH ABOUT
ANTI-TERRORISM ROUSING HIT
SOURCE: Jane Hoback and Gil Rudawsky Thursday's Washington Times ran an item in its Inside the Beltway column about comments from a pilot on United Airlines Flight 564 leaving Denver International Airport last Saturday.

Passenger Peter Hannaford, a public-affairs consultant in Washington and former adviser to President Reagan, reported that the pilot made an announcement as the plane pulled out of the gate:

As it was at most U.S. airports, last Saturday was the first near-normal day at Denver International since the terrorist attacks. On United's Flight 564 the door had just been locked and the plane was about to pull out of the gate when the captain came on the public address system.

"I want to thank you brave folks for coming out today. We don't have any new instructions from the federal government, so from now on we're on our own."

The passengers listened in total silence.

He explained that airport security measures had pretty much solved the problem of firearms being carried aboard, but not weapons of the type the terrorists apparently used, plastic knives or those fashioned from wood or ceramics.

"Sometimes a potential hijacker will announce that he has a bomb. There are no bombs on this aircraft and if someone were to get up and make that claim, don't believe him.

"If someone were to stand up, brandish something such as a plastic knife and say 'This is a hijacking' or words to that effect here is what you should do: Every one of you should stand up and immediately throw things at that person — pillows, books, magazines, eyeglasses, shoes — anything that will throw him off balance and distract his attention. If he has a confederate or two, do the same with them. Most important: get a blanket over him, then wrestle him to floor and keep him there. We'll land the plane at the nearest airport and the authorities will take it from there."

"Remember, there will be one of him and maybe a few confederates, but there are 200 of you. You can overwhelm them.

"The Declaration of Independence says 'We, the people' and that's just what it is when we're up in the air: we, the people, vs. would-be terrorists. I don't think we are going to have any such problem today or tomorrow or for a while, but some time down the road, it is going to happen again and I want you to know what to do.

"Now, since we're a family for the new few hours, I'll ask you to turn to the person next to you, introduce yourself, tell them a little about yourself and ask them to do the same."

You can imagine the feeling when that plane touched down at Dulles and we heard "Welcome to Washington Dulles Airport where the local time is 5:40". Again, the cabin was filled with applause.