Ahhh. You’ve settled back in your seat, found a place to tuck in your knees and you’re winging your way to your destination at 30,000 feet.

You crane your neck to see down the aisle just in time to see a passenger push a fight attendant to the deck and start to yank on the door handle. The co-pilot comes out of the cockpit only to be punched out by the irate passenger, who promptly charges into the cockpit.

What do you do now?

The Air Transport Association estimates that out of roughly 640 million passengers who fly each year, there are perhaps up to 5,000 incidents involving air rage. Many of these potentially dangerous incidents are not reported because of inconsistent policies and regulations.

In one incident, an intoxicated New York woman identified as Denise Laverne Brown, 39, struck an America West co-pilot and threatened a flight attendant on a flight from New York to Phoenix.

In another incident, a 6-foot tall, 280-pound passenger on an Alaska Airlines flight from Mexico to San Francisco was seen to be walking up and down the aisle, muttering to himself. To the horror of fellow passengers, he began trying to open one of the exit doors. When one of the flight attendants confronted him, the man broke into the cockpit and attacked the co-pilot. The pilot had to call for assistance from passengers to restrain the man. The pilot said later that that the man began fighting for the flight controls.

The scary thing is that these two incidents are not that unusual. Some industry observers blame flight delays, crowded planes, rude airline workers and alcohol as a potent combination which causes some passengers to verbally and physical assault flight attendants and pilots.   Major air carriers such as United, Northwest, Delta, US Airways and Jet Blue have now started charging for drinks instead of giving them to passengers free.  This seems to be having a positive effect already.

However, going back to you -- on the plane with a stupid drunk or mentally-deranged person.  Maybe you’ve trained to survive the streets, but now your plane is going down because a drunk nut-case is tangling with the pilot.

What do you do? Your favorite Springfield Armory Compact .45 ACP is at home. Right next to your Emerson folding knife. And your ASP expandable baton. On top of your pepper spray. In the drawer with your stun gun. And your Ninja-key ring.

The fact is, you won’t have any weapons on you at all. (Of course, I am assuming that you are not a LEO flying on official business.)

This is one case where you won’t have a "hammer" to drive in this "nail". And it is a good example of when ordinary citizens have to "defend and control" rather than simply "defend and escape".

Two self-defense concepts here:

1. When the only tool one has is a hammer, then every problem tends to look like a nail. If you rely on your firearm to protect you in all circumstances, you are going to be out to lunch when you can’t carry one. The samurai were aware of this concept and called it muto – being caught "without sword", so they trained in all ranges of combat.
2. Citizens are only obligated to defend themselves from injury or death and then escape the situation. Public safety personnel, on the other hand, are obligated to defend themselves, control the suspect, and then arrest the suspect.

Some thoughts on what to do:

1. First, get help. It is always harder to fight multiple opponents and you want to present the lunatic precisely that problem. However, people are usually hesitant to volunteer. They often deny that a problem exists. Have you ever seen surveillance video from convenience store robberies? Often other customers just stand there or even go about shopping, never even reacting as they watch the robbery happen. You can’t really ask your fellow passengers for help. You have to look at them and tell them, "I need your help." Who to ask? I can’t tell you. I would look for anyone in a military uniform. Then I would look for big, tough-looking guys with the caveat that some of the baddest-looking dudes I’ve met turned out to be total pansies in a fight while some of the most dangerous martial artists I have met were "normal" and unassuming, even "older" looking.
2. Ask the flight crew if they need your help. If you are trained, tell them you have some experience in this. Don’t give them your resume, just say, "I have some training and I can help here." Sometimes people who are in trouble will deny they are in trouble. At first they tell you that the situation is under control, even as it is disintegrating. They might be embarrassed or don’t want others to see their failings. But, usually they will reconsider and ask for a small amount of assistance. If the situation is really grave, like the moron is trying to open the door or is choking the pilot unconscious, announce that you can help and then jump in. I’m not a lawyer, but usually when the people in charge of the safety of others ask for your help, I believe it is reasonable to expect that you have a significant amount of legal protection when your actions are scrutinized later. Don’t look at the flight crew while you are asking, keep your eyes on the subject! Deranged, angry, violent people often sporadically focus their attacks on various individuals and objects. Ask firefighters and medics who end up fighting the people they are trying to save.
3. Look to take the subject down and control him with a submission hold and/or the combined mass of your helpers. This is important here because it is most likely that it will be a matter of tens of minutes, if not an hour or so before the plane can be diverted to land at a nearby airport. If you rely on strikes to beat the subject into submission or chokes to render him unconscious, you might have to beat him or choke him half to death to keep him from continuing the fight over that long period of time. See if you can get some tape or something similar to bind the subjects arms and legs. Deranged individuals and those under the influence will often exhibit super strength and pain tolerance and you will need all the help and advantages you can muster. (Note: some airline carriers are either carrying or considering the carrying of various restraining devices like handcuffs and flexcuffs).
4. Ask for a doctor or nurse on board to monitor the subject. Many times subjects are the most violent and outrageous just before they "flame out". You probably are dealing with someone who is mentally disturbed or having some sort of drug-induced episode. There is a good chance that they could go into cardiac or respiratory arrest. Plus, you can induce positional asphyxiation when you hold down someone for a period of time. In other words, the weight of all your helpers could smother the subject.

If you are not trained, I would hesitate in recommending that you jump in the fracas. You could urge fellow passengers who are more able-bodied to intervene. However, if the guy is causing the plane to crash and no one will help, I would do something! Throw hot coffee on him. Pin him against the bulkhead with a drink cart. Beat him senseless with one of the stale dinner rolls.

Regardless of your past or present training, you should include some sort of grappling into your regime. Despite what we’ve all been told as martial artists, the ground is our friend. It causes the fight to slow down, it denies the opponent the range for striking, and it gives you better control of his movement. When you get some grappling skills under your belt, taking someone to the ground in a fight is like pulling a non-swimmer into the pool.

Even though the maximum fines for interfering with a flight crew have gone up from $1,100 to $25,000 under a Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, but the threat of a fine never stopped any of these goofs before, it probably won’t in the future.

And,  with our luck, there won't be one of our professional Air Marshals on the flight either...

Train hard. You only have one life, fight for it.