I recently flew with KMG Airlines, however, the flight was interrupted by a “small” disaster, terrorists hijacked the plane. The two-hour hijacking saw the passengers marched up and down the plane by terrorists wielding handguns and Tasers.
Ok, so we all knew it was a simulation and obviously there’s only so real you can make a hijacking. But, much like FAST training, the instructors, Expert 3 Nick Maison and Graduate 5 Jose Silva, both ex-special forces, are brilliant at their roles. They clearly know what they’re doing with their roles. You can feel the adrenaline kicking in, and in some cases, you could see people really feeling the fear.
So how did they make the simulation so intense? Well, they paid attention to the details. Instead of just having a bunch of guys in ski masks jump on a plane and shout they wore sunglasses (To block out the minute tells of fake aggression – the pupils, it also obviously helped hide their faces). They wore ski masks and had a stewardess attempt to calm a disgruntled passenger.
Once they entered the plane the lights went out, and they had us close the blinds as smoke began to fill the cabin. In the background they played sounds of planes falling and people screaming, which is what really got to me, hearing people shout “I can’t find my baby” hit into my heart like a spear, and even though you know it’s simulated you can’t help but feel unnerved.
They then tried to break us psychologically by having us lay on top of each other, and moving us all around, screaming in our faces and shining lights in our eyes to disorientate us. But instead of having two hours of horrendously aggressive terrorists, they slowly swapped the tactics and became more gentle. The dialogue went from “Do you ever want to see your family again?” to “You’ll get to see your family again, stay calm and do as you’re told”.
The takeover was probably the highlight of the event; it really tested mental strength and made you think about the reality of trying to stop terrorists on a plane. The takeover was thwarted when armed forces arrived.
We went into a debrief, and filled out a “police questionnaire”, that had questions like “Could you spot them in a line up”, “what were they wearing?” The point is to make you consider why things like clothes aren’t the best thing to look for, you should look for scars and tattoos as a priority. It also made you realize just how hard it is to remember details when under stress.
The actual training had two main focuses, disruptive passengers and the hijackers. We studied in good detail how to use our surroundings, chairs to stabilize ourselves or add force to our attacks, or even to help lock the attacker. What was really good about this is that the training can be applied to several methods of transport, trains, buses, all the same principles.
What was really interesting is learning about how people attack in planes, I always dismissed the idea of an angry passenger having a knife, but being stabbed with a plastic one supplied with a meal still hurts – a lot. We also got an email prior to the event that talked about hijackings and how long they lasted, what the Special Forces did to eliminate the threat etc.
The day lasted 6 hours, and we still wanted to learn more techniques, it was a brilliant seminar with amazing attention paid to small details, big thanks to Total Krav Maga and No Fear Academy for this unforgettable event.
Patrick Day-Childs AKA Custard Trout
