If An Airplane Pilot Tells You To Stop A Passenger "At All Costs," You Can Kill The Passenger Right?

The Independent — Passengers on a US flight were forced to wrestle a woman to the ground after she tried to open the cabin door mid-flight, while repeatedly yelling “I am God”.

The pilot came on the loudspeaker and asked those on the San Francisco to Boise, Idaho, flight to stop the woman from opening the door “at all costs,” passenger Danny Torres told a local news station.

“She got up from her seat, started screaming, ran straight to the door and tried opening it…She kept screaming over and over again, ‘I am God, I am God,’” Mr Torres told KVTB News.

So we talked about this story a bit on radio this morning. Crazy ass lady gets up in the middle of a flight yelling about how she’s god and tries to open the cabin door. So the Pilot announces over the PA that everyone on the flight should stop her from opening the door “at all costs.”

My question is the obvious one: Does a pilot PA announcement mid-flight hold up in court? Can you kill this nutjob and get away with it?

I think so. The pilot is king on a flight. He’s dictator. Whatever he says goes. It’s like going to Mexico – yeah technically there’s a government and laws and law enforcement but everybody knows it’s every man for himself down there. Everybody knows without a moment’s notice a ragtag crew of drug dealers holding AK-47s could roll up in a pickup truck and grab you and just like that you’re a drug cartel guy for life. Pablo Riggscobar. It’s like The Masters — normal rules and laws don’t apply at Augusta. International waters situation. Whatever somebody in a green jacket says or does is the final word. They may spot you walking where you’re not supposed to walk and poof, you’re dragged away to an underground tunnel never to be heard from again. And honestly that’s fine, everybody knows the deal and everybody’s cool with it.

Same thing with pilots. When the captain here says to stop crazytown lady “at all costs” I’m pretty sure you can literally choke the life out of this woman. And when facing trial you simply stand up and say, “your honor, the pilot made an announcement urging us to stop her ‘at all costs.'”

Instant acquittal. You walk.

I’m not sure if it’s in the Constitution or not but it obviously should be. “Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and whatever the pilot says mid-flight will be treated like a direct order from the Commander-In-Chief himself.”