The FAA released an ominous video with sounds of screaming passengers to warn people against unruly behavior
- The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a video designed to deter unruly passengers.
- The FAA used audio clips of shouting passengers and pilots speaking to control rooms.
- 73% of unruly passenger reports in 2021 have involved people refusing to wear masks, it said.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a video Tuesday to warn travelers against unruly behavior on flights, and used audio of violent outbursts on planes.
The video, shared on the agency's Twitter, features pilots speaking to their control rooms while shouting and screaming passengers are heard in the background. It is not clear if the audio clips are all from real onboard incidents.
One pilot can be heard declaring an emergency and asking to divert the flight.
"He is restrained now," another pilot says in the video, referring to an unruly passenger.
The video ends with the message: "Unruly behavior doesn't fly."
The FAA said in an accompanying tweet that it had received 3,988 reports of unruly passenger behavior since the start of 2021, and that 73% of reports related to passengers refusing to wear masks.
The agency has initiated 693 investigations during this period, compared to 146 in 2019 before the pandemic, according to its website.
The FAA also said in the tweet that 132 cases resulted in penalties. The agency has proposed more than $1 million in civil fines against unruly passengers in 2021, it said in an August 19 press release.
Flight crews have faced rocketing levels of passenger violence as air travel rebounds from its pandemic slump.
For example, the FAA accused a JetBlue passenger of grabbing a flight attendant by the ankles and sticking his head up her skirt on a flight from New York to Orlando in May, and is seeking a $45,000 penalty.
Flight attendants previously told Insider that passenger violence had damaged their mental health.
Some flight crews have resorted to duct-taping passengers to their seats to prevent them from behaving violently - although United Airlines has warned crews to avoid using duct tape.