United 93 - Crisis Management

Wow, I have being really busy for months, trying to get the pupils to finish their portfolio and artefacts for the 'N' levels exams and now with a bit of time I have (still setting questions for the end of year exams), I manage to watched united 93 on dvd. I had it for quite long since june 06 but just did not get down to watching.

Today might be a interesting day to watch it, just three days after september 11. HAHA. And of course, I went onine to see if there is any conspiracy theories, concerning the crash, and just as I expect, check this out.

As a singaporean watching the movie, I watched it from another aspect. I felt that at the end of the day, it is the families of the victims AND the perpretrators that suffer from the loss. Fathers and mothers lost their sons and daughters, children lost their parents., even the perpretrators are sons to a father and fathers to their children. There is no gain in terrorist activities and likewise, there is no gain for the old men on top of the military to sent the young men to a warfront.

I also have another thought: if I was on the plane, what will I do? If you are on the plane, would you have done the same? or what will you do? From a macro aspect, are we (Singaporeans) prepared to handle crisis?

As in the movie, ( Some people say real life is reel life and reel life is also real life) I saw characters just break down and weep and weep as if there is no tomorrow or running around like headless chicken, same as many movies dealing with crisis. Being in a school environment allowed me to see the same characters in real life, not only pupils, but teachers also. I thank GOD for national service to prepare us, but I do see the same characters in the army too when we are stressed beyond what we normally as civilians will do, going for exercise for four to five days without much sleep and dealing with difficult situations. JUST CALM DOWN AND USE THE BRAIN: THINK!!!!

Am I being too logical and rational? Just as the movie progresses, some people get over the initial shock and calm down enough to plan a retaliation. I will have done the same as the people on board, used the trolley as a battle ram to knock down some perpretrators and the cockpit door, but may do something differently. While raming the door, someone has to disarm the bomber, pouring hot water on him will only blind him and hurt him but will not stop him from detonate the bomb. Secondly, spray the fire extinguisher into the cockpit, charging in blindly will only cause confusion. Fire extinguisher ( hopefully, it contains carbon dioxide, even foam is fine.) will blind the perpretrators and carbon dioxide will cause them to rush out for oxygen, only then deal with them. It is smart of the passengers to use the seat as shields in the movie, but what happened in the actual situation, I would not know.

Another question is if you are the pilot, will you open the door even if you receive a message not to allow cabin intrusion and the life of a flight attendant is at stake? I think this is a interesting question to ponder over? Will you sacrifice the life of one (or few) to save the lifes of many?

In the movie, the air traffic control or the 911 response is really lacking in brains, to the extent of stupid. The terrorist pilot accidentally went on air to say that there is a bomb on board and the air traffic controller calmly say:" United 93, can you repeat again that you have a bomb on board?" and through out the movie the same air traffic controller is just asking for the pilot to response to the calling. The 911 response conversation is even funnier asking the caller to please hang the line, while he transfer the line.

Overall, the movie is ok, maybe 3 out if 5 stars. Interesting, but pace is abit slow, gets a little boring when they feature on four or five passengers calling their families ( the same message again and again) but this is also the most touching part, especially a mother reconciles with her daugther who is on the plane.

In conclusion, to the 911 situation, get over it. Dun every year take it up and rake up the past, just let the dead men die. Just as every historical events, few hundred years down the road, no one can be bothered about it.

Live today, hope for tomorrow and let the past pass.(Said by me yours truely)