Submitted by Martin Engeler, May 13, 2007 08:26

After reading your article I was totally amazed it was not mandatory for airline crew to be trained in Defensive Tactics. Considering they are the last line of defense on-board an aircraft in flight, passengers would expect the flight attendants would be able to respond to incidents such as disruptive behaviour to persons attempting to exercise control of an aircraft. It is mandated in Australia by the transport regulator that any airline operating with an aircraft of 30 seats or more within or into the Country, their aircrew are required to undergo appropriate self defense responses (International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO Annex 6 Chapter 13). This requirement has been in place since November 2003.

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