Originally Posted by teddyballgame

did you all notice this particular sentence from the written story accompanying the video?

the incident started on the plane, when the passenger said the pilot was taking up too much room in the aisle and being disrespectful, the police report says.


i think we can all envision how this scenario may have played out in the cabin.

It is common professional courtesy -- and even written policy at some airlines -- that non-revs and dher's deplane last, after all the paying customers.

I can't count the number of times i have seen crewmembers sitting mid-cabin jump up, take their several bags out of the overheads on both sides of the aisle, and build their bomb stack right there in the middle of the aisle, holding up 50 paying passengers who are trying to deplane.

Admittedly, if i am close to check-in time, or running like hell for my bus home, i will step into the aisle to retrieve my stuff from the bins; but only when there is a break in the action upstream. And then, if i see a passenger approaching me, i step back into the seat area to let him or her by, before continuing to gather my belongings.

In this situation, the pilot's wife was waiting for him curbside. I don't think it would have killed either of them to wait an extra five minutes to let all the passengers deplane first.

Again, this is all speculation on my part, but from years of observation, i can guess what might have happened.

Nonetheless, any physical assault on any other human being, other than in self-defense, is unacceptable.

And that includes the pilot's whacking the passenger's hand and knocking his phone out of it, although i agree that the attempt by the passenger to photograph the pilot's badge was indeed a security violation.