RAW VIDEO: Flight 297 Passenger, Brent Brown Talks About AirTran Incident

Click here to watch the video. (If anyone could upload it to YouTube, that would be a help.)

Thanks to HRW for the transcript:

9:42 RAW VIDEO: Flight 297 Passenger, Brent Brown Talks About AirTran Incident

rough transcript:

Reporter: First of all, your reaction to how this story has taken on a life of it's own since

the actual flight.

Brent: Well, it's incredible. You kind of expect this in the time of the internet but you never

know where it's going to come from. But after coming home and not seeing much about it, kinda thought it was over with. So, it's pretty incredible.

Reporter: It's been what? A couple of weeks now?

Brent: Two and a half

Reporter: Do you still think about it? Is it something that still bothers you?

Brent: Well, I still think that the uh, AirTran company, the officials were dead wrong in what they did in over-riding the crew. I think they mishandled it

from the get go - um - and I would like to hear some real responses from them. So, I think

about it from that respect and I think about it because people are starting to call because they found out that I was on that flight.

Reporter: What about it, air transportation bothers you most?

Brent: Well, when the officials starting getting on the plane, you gotta realize I about five feet from the door, basically, so I can hear and see all the action. But they weren't speaking to us. They didn't speak to us at all for at least an hour. Our only interaction was with the crew that was already upset at the way they were obviously being handled. And then after the fact, they apparently issue a statement that says in effect that this is nothing more than a customer service issue over someone who was on the phone. Then they're dead wrong. The captain did the right thing and should be commended for doing it. That's all I want them to do. Acknowledge that.

Reporter: You've read all the crazies. . .is there. . .the truth I'm sure lies somewhere between what AirTran said and these crazy e-mails out there. Um, what did you first see that raised your, piqued your interest?

Brent: Well, I saw the folks that were on the plane that were of obvious middle eastern descent, which in and of itself doesn't concern me. I fly a lot. They were spread throughout the cabin. I was in business class. What I would refer to as the leader of the group was just one row up and to my left. But I was also right on the edge of the coach section where I can see where some of the people were getting up and down the aisles and looks like they were interacting with each other. There were cell phones or some type of electronic device. That was unsettling, you know.when you can tell that. Also, you are watching, engaging the look of the flight attendants faces. We've all been on flights when someone makes a mistake and stands up or unbuckles during taxi and they come on the intercom and they say take your seats or we can't move the plane. This was a big step ahead of that. You could tell that they were distressed and that they were getting pretty much very uncooperative people in the back.

Reporter: um, and theres all these e-mails people were dancing and singing and they were doing everything. You said it's untrue. Did you see them taking pictures or any . .?

Brent: Nah, from my vantage point I couldn't see that. I was close enough to one of the people in the back, uh, the back compartment, that I could see that one them had come from further in the back to that other person and was interacting with him because I saw the flight attendant tell him to take his seat. Beyond that, and some of the people writing e-mails making themselves heros - obviously they live in a fantasy world and I would challenge whether they were even on the plane. But if they were, the action that they said they took, they would have had to walk right past me and they would have been part of the problem. So, and people making claims that they knew that they were dancing and taking pictures in there, from the vantage point of the business class compartment - it's just simply not true. What they did was concerning enough. The story doesn't need to be embellished.

Reporter: Just the fact that they were walking around interacting

Brent: Walking around, refusing to cooperate, you got to stay in your seat when you taxi out.

Using electronic devices , um, we can argue whether that's a real issue in a flight take off. But that's a rule, an FAA rule they have to contend with. And they were obviously refusing with that. And uh, so when the pilot turned the plane around, not only was I not surprised, I was proud that he had made that effort to secure the cabin.

Reporter: You mentioned especially with the lack of interaction for that hour you got tense.

Brent: It was extremely tense . I've never experienced anything like that. After flying, for company reasons, for more than twenty years now, you can imagine, pretty much everything has happened on a flight . . .and some pretty hair raising experiences. This was like nothing else I've ever experienced. After having been in law enforcement, obviously in the security industry, this was tension at its highest. And I had to make some very real decisions myself, on whether or not I was going to continue the flight.

Reporter: Then you decided to

Brent: I did. What made me decide that was, after two hours of being on the ground, they, um, the rumor was that they were going to put the folks back on the flight. And they did. It appeared that the two biggest problems within the group were not allowed back on the plane. I felt like they had probably, hopefully screened them enough to know that it was at least safe. There also was a mass exodus of the regular passengers getting off the plane. So, I kinda felt like, with fewer passengers we might be able to control things if something were to get out of hand. And frankly, when other AirTran captains that were dead heading to Houston got on board the plane, I talked to a couple of them and one in particular, I said, do you feel safe flying this plane? -flying on this plane? And he said yes, they've done everything they could possibly do now. It's probably the safest plane leaving. So I made the decision to stay on.

Reporter: um, was this any sort of dry run for terrorist activity?

Brent: You never know, but I don't think so. I think it was some people that were probably not just the best citizens for flights. Maybe there was a language barrier. I find that a little difficult to believe that someone flying all the way into this country hasn't flown enough now to know the proper procedures. Um, in the security business we might consider it somewhat of a dry run or test to see what the reaction would be. Um, I still think it's a little far fetched to say that's exactly what it was.

Reporter: And , last question I guess . .. what lesson are we to take out of - not only what happened on that flight - but how it's been handled and become a (???) - does that make any sense?

Brent: It does. First of all I would encourage everyone to stand up for themselves and let their voice be known. That sounds like a simple statement but if um, all those passengers that didn't feel comfortable flying - that exited the plane did exactly the right thing. And uh, you shouldn't be forced to do something you are uncomfortable with. In the security business we tell people all the time, if you don't feel comfortable about something that's part of your security plan - then don't do it. And post Fort Hood I think that we all need to be extremely in tune to how political correctness jeopardizes our security day to day. And uh, be aware of it and figure out what we are going to do about that. You know, I don't want any group singled out - but if there is a security risk - let's not look at it from a pc standpoint. Let's look at it from a security standpoint. Um, beyond that I would tell people that if you're going to embellish a real story - be careful where you post it. Because in this day and environment that's never going to change now - it's going to get out there and you're going to be embarrased that you have embellished something that is already an incredible story.

Reporter : (uninteligible) What would you tell AirTran

8:32

Brent: Well, first and foremost I would tell AirTran that when they have a security situation - have security officials board the plane. The most startling thing that I saw was when the captain turns us around and comes on the intercom and says we have a security situation - and I didn't see a single uniformed law enforcement officer or anyone that I would classify as law enforcement board the plane. I think that's first and foremost. From a customer relations standpoint - you've got to communicate. You can not stand, literally feet away from people that you are affecting their lives, in more ways than just their time, you're affecting and possibly jeopardising their lives and you're not speaking to us. You've got to say something . And when you say something, be honest and accurate. Don't fill us with a bunch of hooey because most of the people that fly, especially at that time of day when it's mostly business passengers , know a little bit more than the basic flight standard. So, talk to us. We can understand delays but you got to tell us what's going on.