High-as-a-kite

Air rage has been in the headlines over the last year after a series of high-profile incidents. It is becoming increasingly clear that the safety of the vast majority of passengers is being threatened by others who become violent, usually when drunk. Rob Enock, a former prop forward for his university, had to overpower a 31-year-old Scotsman who went berserk on a transatlantic flight and attempted to kick open an emergency exit. Although locking systems should make it impossible to open doors whilst in flight, the experience was extremely frightening to other passengers. "I thought we were going to die," said Enock. "Everyone on the 'plane was scared."

The case of the 12 members of the same family whose exuberance caused their Jamaica-bound Airtours flight to be diverted to Norfolk, Virginia, featured prominently on national television news and front pages for several days. An Airtours spokesman described the incident as "a mass mid-air brawl", although the Virginia 12, as journalists inevitably dubbed them after they were thrown off the flight in the USA, referred to "a good old Irish sing-song". Of course, there may be no essential difference between the two concepts.

Equally eye-catching was the "Full Monty" routine performed by two policemen, father and son, and their friend, the landlord of their local pub, on a flight from Florida to Manchester. At their recent trial, a witness said that the three men were passing a litre bottle of gin between them. Nonetheless, the cabin crew sold them eight gin and tonics, followed by a further four miniatures of gin and two of whisky. The in-flight film was the highly-successful "Full Monty", a scene from which brought the defendants' participation. Far more offensively, the men were abusive to two elderly female passengers and tried to intimidate them.

The cases go on and on, from the repellent behaviour of Ian Brown, former lead singer of the pop group The Stone Roses, who was gaoled for violently threatening an air hostess, to the drunk who punched a hole in an inner window. They all put considerable pressure on cabin crew, cause distress to other travellers, and often distract the pilots. It is not uncommon for the captain's authority to be required to restore calm. The common factor in all these cases is alcohol.

Whilst not minimising the problem, Superintendent Tim Burgess, whose is responsible for policing Manchester airport, points out that last year 17.5 million people took flights and only 50 were reported to police for drink rela-ted incidents. Nonetheless, it is not the quantity but the nature of incidents of air rage. There is no doubt that the number is increasing but the major worry is that one day a disaster will be caused. However unlikely this seems, it is not impossible and, given the potential for loss of life, has to be addressed. In the meantime, other passengers are abused and terrified and aircrew suffer threats and assaults.

One issue which airlines themselves need to look at very carefully is their policy with regard to serving alcohol. The "Full Monty" drunks had brought their own supply on board but were still served with what many would consider excessive quantities. It has been suggested that one cause of stress among passengers is the prohibition on smoking. Anxiety arising from nicotine deprivation is said to emerge as aggression, especially when fuelled by alcohol. Tightly-packed holiday flights, often with a high level of tension and many inexperienced travellers, some of whom have been drinking before take-off, seem particularly susceptible. The longer the journey, the greater is the likelihood of an incident.

Like othe airlines, Airtours offers plentiful supplies of alcohol.

Greater Manchester Police's Airport Subdivision and the relevant airlines have drawn up a Disruptive Passenger Protocol which sets out their respective responsibilities. This has arisen from the perceived need for a standardisation of response with police, airline, victim, and crew. The protocol outlines the procedure which should be followed by the airline in reporting any incident so that the police are able effectively to pursue any investigation and prosecute offenders. The fact that an incident might occur on the outbound leg of a flight is not necessarily a bar to prosecution, which is why West Sussex Police are investigating the case of the Virginia 12. In the prot-ocol, the Greater Manchester police undertake to co-ordinate all matters concerning any incident, including the often difficult financial implications, such as applying for witnesses expenses and compensation for the airline if divert and landing fees have been involved.

Significant as individual cases are in the accumulation of anecdotal evid-ence and important as are the measures being taken to deal with air rage, a dispassionate examination of its causes has been long needed. Professor Helen Muir and Professor John Moyle, of the College of Aeronautics at Cranfield University, are the authors of a paper written recently called Contributors to Disruptive Behaviour. In this they point out that in 1997 there were 109 reports of disruptive behaviour by passengers to the UK Civil Aviation Authority (as opposed to the 50 per year mentioned by Superintendent Burgess as coming to the notice of police) and that the general belief is that worldwide the number of incidents could be as great as 2,000. However, Professors Muir and Moyle say that we "currently have limited information not only about the frequency of disruptive behaviour, but about the extent to which various factors contribute to the behaviour." Nor is there any information as to which types of behaviour are associated with different groups of people. The authors make a link - logical enough - between the changes in society which have brought about higher levels of aggression and violence on the streets, on football terraces, in the school playground, with similar behaviour on aeroplanes. Similarly, changes in the nature of air travel are perceived as a factor in the spread of air rage. In the early days of civil aviation, flying was seen as a privilege and an adventure, accessible only to the rich, and as more dangerous than other means of transport. Relatively few people could be carried on each flight and these were treated on an individual basis by members of the crew. However, nowadays air travel is available to most members of society, often at cheap prices. There is high density seating and passengers are treated as a whole, eating, drinking, even sleeping as suits the airline operatives.

Muir and Moyle identify "Individual and Pre-flight Factors", including a variety of causes of stress, such as general "life stressors" and the more directly pertinent fear of flying. For many travellers there is immediate stress involved in the very act of catching an aeroplane: the journey to the airport and concern about being on time and the often acute tension arising from delays. They add that "one of the methods some people adopt in an attempt to offset the effect of this stress is to consume alcohol." At the same time the disruption to normal routines associated with flying may lead to lack of sleep and missed meals. The combination of lack of food and alcohol "is almost certain to affect mood and behaviour."

There are, according to Contributors to Disruptive Behaviour, many stress inducing elements in the environment of an aircraft's cabin. Professors Muir and Moyle's list include the following: hypoxia (oxygen deficiency); alcohol; raised carbon dioxide level; noise; crowding; company; catering; 3D motion; and fear.

The combination of a number of these stressors may provide a powerful impulse towards air rage. "In particular the effects of alcohol intake and the mild hypoxia caused by the cruise cabin altitude are likely to potentiate each other as they produce similar symptoms" including aggression, confusion, poor judgement, loss of inhibitions, no insight, and delayed reaction time. "Cruise cabin altitude produces a mild hypoxic state which is perfectly tolerable in the healthy, sober, non-smoking adult but the ability of the blood to transport oxygen is diminished by poor health or high alcohol intake or the carboxyhaemoglobin induced by tobacco smoking." An added problem is that, in the interests of fuel economy, carbon dioxide levels in the cabin are often allowed to rise.

Muir and Moyle conclude by stressing the importance of a systematic investigation of "the influence of alcohol and stress on mood in conditions of oxygen and carbon dioxide concentration." They have therefore set up an experimental programme in which members of the public coming to the test site in groups "to take part in a task for the duration of a typical flight, which will have the potential to cause some of them to become annoyed and even angry." The quantities of alcohol administered will vary from group to group and on some occasions the simulated environment will be that of conditions at sea level altitude.

It is hoped that the results of this experiment will help determine the environment which is least likely to encourage air rage. Beyond doubt, the factor which most engenders disruptive behaviour is alcohol. If this is to be combated then the airlines and airport authorities need to examine their policy of giving alcohol to their customers and, indeed, the criteria by which they prevent people actually joining a flight. The airlines, of course, are concerned at any threat to profits, as the current dispute over the abolition of duty free within the European Union indicates, but will have to consider a ban on the consumption of alcohol during flights.That such a ban would diminish the enjoyment of the majority of passengers hardly compares to the potential danger of the present situation and the unpleasantness of being in an aeroplane with the likes of the Full Monty policemen or the Virginia 12.

If drunken passengers are, on the whole, an extreme irritation, then pilots who have consumed alcohol inappropriately are potential causes of disaster. In February, a written question from Conservative MP Andrew Rowe to Glenda Jackson, the transport minister with responsibility for civil aviation, asked what plans there were to change the regulations governing the flying of civil aircraft while under the influence of drink or drugs. The minister, after pointing out that it is currently an offence for any person to act as a member of an aircraft's crew while under the influence of drink or drug, conceded that "there is no power for the police to require samples from someone suspected of committing an offence. While there is no evidence to suggest that alcohol or drugs abuse by aircraft crew is a problem, it is our long-term intention to introduce legislation to set an alcohol limit for aircraft crew and to give the Police the power to require suspected offenders to provide samples for testing." Miss Jackson did not disclose how long "long-term" might be nor whence she obtained the information that there is no evidence that alcohol and drugs were a problem among air crew.

As long ago as 1993 the journal Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine published a paper "Alcoholism and treatment in airline aviators". This was based on the study of one American airline but there is no reason to suppose that their experience is unique. Between 1973 and 1989 nearly 200 United Airlines pilots were advised to seek help for problem drinking through a programme organised by the Company. 87 per cent of these returned to flight duties after treatment. The number of pilots who sought treatment outside the company's programme is unknown. The authors of the paper suggest that, whilst the the prevalence of problem drinking among airline pilots has not been established, it is likely that substantial numbers need treatment but are not getting it. By 1985 in the USA 2 per cent of the pilot population had gone through the process of re-certification after alcohol treatment. The lifetime prevalence rate for problem drinking among the general American population is between 11 and 16 per cent.

The cost of not dealing with this problem can be catastrophic. Twenty years ago a DC8 crashed killing everyone on board. It was subsequently established that the pilot had been three times over the limit for driving.