Passenger Peter Bradley.

Passenger Peter Bradley, age 40 was arraigned last week for breaking by the and of the door to the cockpit of Alaska Airlines' [ALK] Flight 259 from Mexico to San Francisco and assaulting the first officer, who maintained himself with the airplane's crash axe, receiving injuries requiring eight stitches to his hand in the proces Bradley had threatened to kill all onward board. He shoved aside a flight attendant, broke between the sides of the locked cockpit door as the airplane was cruising near Monterrey about 100 miles southerly of San Francisco, and was going for the suffocate and fuel controls. It took at least 5 the community to overpower the 6-foot, 250-pound Bradley. He was bounce with plastic restraints until landing and handover to airport police. The Associated Pres reported Robert Benjamin, individual of 43 passengers and 5 ship's company on the March 16 flight, as saying. "Fortunately all the stays moved quick and he ain't dead and we're not dead."

An Alaska official put forwarded these additional details:

* The passenger had not evidenced any question at issue in the boarding area (drunkennes or possibly in a less degree than the influence of drugs).

* He was not serv alcohol upon the airplane.

* He did not begin to act up (making threats, disobeying supplications to stay put and moving from seat to seat, shedding his clothes) until about halfway by the agency of the flight. "It escalated slowly which is wherefore we didn't get the airplane in succession the ground immediately," the official said.

There are a certain long-term implications to this occurrence "We're looking at how we incorporate this incident into our training," the official said. In addition, the carrier is actively weighing about means of strengthening the relatively lightweight bifold door to the cockpit. near sort of hinged or sliding cros bar is being considered - its function would be equivalent to the thick beams that were slid behind the gates of medieval castles, make it harder to batter through

Other carriers including American Airlines [AMR], Northwest Airlines [NWAC], Delta Airlines [DAL] and Trans World Airlines [TWA], also are considering a crossbar or similar mechanism to make the cockpit more immovable from unwanted intrusion. >> Alaska Airlines, 206/433-3134 <<

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