$170,000 Panic Attack

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There was an interesting story a few days ago about a couple on an airplane that opened the emergency doors of an aircraft as it was taxiing down the runway for take off and slid off a moving plane.

A Delta Air Lines passenger charged with criminal mischief and reckless endangerment claims he was suffering a panic attack when he opened the emergency exit to flee the plane before takeoff from La Guardia Airport on Monday. Antonio Murdock, who exited the aircraft with girlfriend Brianna Greco and their puppy Rain, made the comments on Tuesday outside Queens Criminal Court, the New York Post reports.



"It was a panic attack," said Murdock, who added that he suffers from mental health issues including depression and anxiety. "I asked them three or four times to let me off. They said they were stopping the plane and they never stopped the plane, and I got to the point where I was just feeling dizzy." Murdock, 31, and Greco, 23, both from Florida, were originally scheduled to travel to Atlanta on Monday’s flight before jumping down the emergency slide with their pet while the plane was preparing for takeoff. An alleged witness aboard the flight told The New York Times that Murdock had refused to remain seated during takeoff stating he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Authorities say Murdock’s unplanned exit also caused over $170,000 in damages to the Airbus A21 aircraft.

Source: Delta passenger who slid from emergency exit says he was suffering a panic attack

The issue is if this cost them $170,000 then prehaps the air industry needs a rethink as stopping an aircraft to let a passenger off who is in a panic attack should not cost them that much even if the man opened the emergency door and went down the slide. If the slides cost that much they need a radical re-think who supplies the things to them as they have been paying out too much.
I do not expect it to be cheap, as aircraft and the air industry is not, but that is 100k more then I would have estimated the costs to cost, and I am used to the railway industry who have to charge £100 per minute for delays to the train operating company.
The whole air industry needs to come back down to earth and start again if the coats are that high due to such a delay as it could happen again several times... Air travel is a frightening thing to those who have not travelled, and air conditioning tends to make those who panic many times worse. (It is why as a passenger I can't travel much on trains. I could when I was working them as the cabs were not air conditioned).

How they need to alter the industry... They need to work that one out for themselves... If they can offer (And they do) cheap flights which are a third of the price of train travel to the same destination, then $170,000 for this incident? Someone somewhere is taking advantage!

In another article:

A source told NY Daily News Murdock told cops his PTSD stems from a jail stint on robbery charges and was triggered by the confined space in the airplane cabin.

The dog was a very large service dog, a 60-pound grayhound named "Rain".

Murdock was arrested back in September and charged with possession of a controlled substance and criminal trespass after he allegedly chased a police car into the gated parking lot of a precinct in Arkansas. The 31-year-old allegedly ran after an officer's car before the officer in the car and others in the lot convinced him to stop. Murdock was 'speaking very erratically' and told the cops there was someone in his car trying to kill him, according to the Sentinel-Record. The officers searched his car and found no one inside but did find almost five ounces of marijuana, the arrest warrant said.

Source: I don't get off the plane I'm going to sp*** out': Claustrophobic Delta passenger, 31, who 'popped' plane door and slid down escape shoot at LaGuardia with friend and service dog 'had PTSD episode sparked by prison stint'

One wonders if illegal drugs played a role.

Is the $170,000 estimate unreasonable?

I do not know but there were probably many intangible and tangible cost involved.

There were 106 passengers on the flight. The plane returned to the gate and the other passengers were deplaned and put on alternate flights.

When Murdock fled the plane, it triggered an automatic response by the emergency crews at the airport and they surrounded the plane. And I wouldn't be surprised if it did not cause flight delays on several other planes trying to take off.

Flight 462 was scheduled to depart shortly before 10am but was returned to the gate. Maintenance technicians checked over the aircraft and the plane finally left La Guardia at 7.17pm, more than nine hours late.

In day to day operations things will happen. The railways knows this. The aircraft industry knows this. They are well rehearsed at providing alternative arrangements when things go wrong. This happens. Yes, there will be delays. It can't be helped. On the railways they tell passengers that if they have important meetings to travel a minimum of an hour earlier then expected to plan for the unexpected. It is why they will only provide compwnsation to passengers as a rule after the hour has passed. The aircraft industry has to be even more careful in stating to passengers to book many hours early and even go a day early if neccessary if the flight is an important one. Passengers who expect everything to always be perfect are playing a game of chance in this respect. We used to get them on the railway! People who would travel very last minute and rely on the trai to be precisely on time to get to their meeting just in time... It may happen like this foe a coupke of weeks of a single service and then "Bam" something happens and there will be an obvious knock on delayed effect.
People need to realize this and prepare for this. If not buy a boat and sail across the ocean. You want precision. Just try it!

But seriously. Things do happen. The question here is why they claim it costs so much. To have emergency response. Those guys are on call 24/7 and reside at the airport themselves when on duty. They are paid if they get called out or if they don't get called out. It does not make a huge difference in cost unless they happen to put their foam fire fighting equipment into use or other non reusable equipment. Other then that it should not cost any more then it does if they are not called out.

Delays to other aircraft there will be a cost to, but if the costs are that high there is something wrong with their system of payments. Someone somewhere must be raking in the money if it does cost this amount.

I am not saying that the event is not costly. I am challenging how costly it is when it does not need to be. I am challenging the organization of their systems they use if these delays cost so much.

The railway here has an interesting system. The government own the track. If a train is delayed through a breakdown, or a passenger in difficulty or any other on train issue, the company pays a £100 payment for each minute of the delay they cause, BUT if the delay is due to the track or signalling, or something on the track etc, then the government pays the train operating company £100 per minute for each train that is delayed.
It is a good system which works because it usually averages out between all the delays that both the train operating companies and the government run railway end up roughly equal on an average year.

I get pretty bad panic attacks sometimes. That's why I keep medication with me. Especially if I was in a confined space like a plane.

So this man did a crime, got arrested and got PTSD from it? No sympathy here then. He did this to himself. Don't commit crimes. I will feel sorry for him if his robbery was getting food because he was hungry and had lost his job and he got arrested for food theft and there was no violence.

I wonder what would have happened if he was riding on a train and suffered a panic attack as the train was leaving the station? Jump off a train carrying a 60 pound service dog and followed by your female companion. It seems like it would be rather messy.

Hmm, interesting the difference in how US and UK newspapers treat the word spazz,

New York Times;

Airlines are not for everyone, if you have a phobia of enclosed spaces and small spaces, do not ride the jet, has he not ridden one before?