Mark Bogosian, an American Airlines pilot, is co-author of a helpful book for airline passengers. It’s Never Again: A Self-Defense Guide for the Flying Public. His co-authors are a SWAT team leader and a police commander. “Unless law enforcement is aboard, passengers and flight attendants are the first line of defense,” Bogosian notes.

Along with disarming tips — in case a terrorist was able to get a gun on board — it provides numerous self-defense moves, ways to take away a knife or box cutter and information about dozens of ordinary items in aircraft cabins that can be used to thrwart an attack. Bogosian emphasizes, however, this is not a “whack ‘em up” book, but a carefully measured approach to an attack that begins with analyzing the situation and using the standard levels of the “force continuum” employed by law enforcement.

Certainly a timely read.