Is it Safe for the Mentally Ill to Fly?

This is an issue that I have put off writing about. I think I needed to take in what happened at the Miami airport earlier this week before I put my opinion out there to the world.

Rigoberto Alpizar “uttered threatening words including a sentence to the effect that he had a bomb” on an airplane. He was then shot by federal air marshals after he ran off the plane. Mr. Alpizar’s wife tried to explain to the marshals that her husband was sick and had not taken his medication. Mr. Alpizar had bipolar disorder. He was also a missionary, with no bomb, and no link to terrorism.

Mr Alpizar was shot for 2 reasons. He was gunned down because he was showing symptoms of bipolar disorder on an airplane, he was freaked out, and he wanted off the damn airplane. He also was thought to have used the dreaded b-word. Now, it seems no one on board the plane except the air marshals heard Mr. Alpizar drop the b-word….but lets say he did.

Here are my questions: #1 If you act unconventionally on an airplane because you are ill, are you automatically considered a “threat to the staff, passengers, or the plane”? #2 If you accidentally let the b-word slip are you automatically going to get shot?

First of all, let me say that I am scared to death to fly. I am afraid when I am medicated. I’d freak unmedicated. I was afraid to fly before Sept. 11, 2001, and anytime I have to fly now, I am convinced that the airborne bus is going to go up in flames. This being said, I do fly because I like to travel and sometimes I’ve just had to.

If I was a passenger on a plane, and someone announced they had a bomb, I would consider a few things. Is the person a real threat? For one thing, I can’t imagine a seasoned terrorist to announce he has a bomb on a plane that had just landed. How had the person acted during the flight? You would think that a terrorist would want to go un-noticed. Also, if the person bolted for the door, I’d be the first one behind him because I’d think he left the bomb on the plane! Isnt that the point of having one? Hmmm….

However, if I felt threatened…if I felt like my life or someone else’s was seriously in jeopardy, I’d be the first one to say shoot the son of a gun...but if my grandmother stood up and said bomb, I wouldnt expect her to be killed without someone asking a few questions.

Does anyone find it odd that NONE of the other passengers on the plane felt threatened by Mr. Alpizar? Did you see one passenger on the news saying “I was scared to death this man was going to kill us all?” If there has been a single one, I have not seen them.

In response to my second question: If you say the b-word are you automatically going to get shot? –If that’s going to be the case, shouldn’t there be signs in airports, or something on your ticket that says WARNING: “Please do not say the word “bomb” for any reason whatsoever…On an airplane, freedom of speech is out the window concerning this word, and you will automatically be executed for saying it.”

I don’t know….it just doesn’t seem right. I know air marshals are supposed to keep us safe in the air from Osama Bin-Laden following freaks….but shit, that could have been me. Get me without my meds for a while, put me on an airplane, and I can promise you that I would want off and I probably wouldn’t be nice about it. I HOPE the b-word wouldn’t escape my mouth for any reason, but hell…I’m mentally ill….if I am manic or psychotic, who the hell knows what I could say, I could think I was on a military plane over Iraq and was supposed to bomb something!?!

Is it really safe for us to fly? When I fly, do I need to announce to everyone on the plane that I have Bipolar Disorder, I might freak out, but I promise I wont hurt anybody?? Do I need a sign that says : BIPOLAR, BUT NOT A DANGER TO OTHERS on my back?

I don’t know if the air marshal thing makes me feel safer or makes me more afraid.