You should not record drama on an airplane, an FAA rep says. The growing trend of filming passenger outbursts on flights could pose safety hazards.
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Social media has recently been flooded with dramatic clips of people disrupting flights, often causing delays when they're booted from the airplanes.
Last month, a video of the 38-year-old Tiffany Gomas went viral after she was shown yelling and wildly gesticulating near the entrance of an Orlando, Florida-bound aircraft flying from Dallas-Fort Worth.
"There's a reason why I'm getting" off, the marketing executive shouted while using expletives. She added: "Everyone can either believe it or they cannot believe it." While continuing to use expletives, she said "but I am telling you right now, that" person "back there is not real," pointing toward the rear of the cabin.
The footage, since deleted, sparked endless memes that poked fun at Gomas, who was swiftly dubbed "crazy plane lady."
She later said that her "life had blown up" after she was identified by the New York Post. Gomas apologized for her behavior. She has since launched an initiative that she said targeted cyberbullies and raised awareness about mental-health problems.
While Gomas was identified, the person — or people — who posted her outburst on X, formerly known as Twitter, and other platforms have stayed anonymous.
Last week, when the model Morgan Osman launched a foul-mouthed tirade against a woman who she said was in her seat on an airplane, it seemed any number of passengers could have uploaded it to social media. Osman told TMZ that as they witnessed the incident, "people then whipped out their cameras."
It's a phenomenon that Trey Walters, a safety representative for the Federal Aviation Administration, said might create more damage in some circumstances.
"If someone's got a cellphone in your face, it could make the situation worse," Walters told Insider. "If a flight attendant, for example, is trying to attend to a passenger that's having an issue, having people reaching their hands out in front of that person's face, trying to record the situation definitely creates added risk."
The former commercial pilot, along with his FAA role, is now the CEO of the flight-training company Blue Line Aviation, said the rush of passengers trying to get footage might result in airline staff becoming "distracted" from their duties.
Walters added that it was particularly "inappropriate" to film people with medical conditions.
Nobody appeared in the video, but an X user with the display name Xansby Swanson, who wrote that his brother was aboard a plane to Spain, posted footage on X of what audio from the flight deck suggested was a trail of explosive diarrhea in the aisle of an aircraft. The Delta plane returned to Atlanta, where it had departed from, two hours into the flight.
The clip prompted widespread ridicule of the unknown sick passenger. However, a TikToker with the username @mariamas.trench released a video encouraging people to be wary of laughing "too much" at the passenger.
"If I was this person, I'd be completely mortified because like me, personally, I'm not going to laugh at something that I know that could easily happen to me," the user said in a post that received 1.3 million views.
Meanwhile, the comedian Chris Grace, said on TikTok that some clips that purported to show a brouhaha aboard airplanes were fake.
"Oh, my gosh, it's another fun video where people are fighting on an airplane," Grace said over footage taken from what he said was a viral video.
He said that setups had been filmed on sets that looked like planes. They'd even been taken, he said, in studios or on private planes hired by people desperate for views on social media.
As for the real deal, use of cellphones to take videos and photos inside a cabin appears to be a gray area for many airlines.
In 2018, United said that "capturing personal events" — such as a selfie of family and friends posing in their seats — was "permitted." But it added: "Any photography or recording of other customers or airline personnel that creates a safety risk, or that interferes with crew members' duties is prohibited."
Insider contacted seven major airlines to ask about their latest photo and video policy. None responded. However, when I was traveling to London on a Virgin Atlantic flight last month, I heard an announcement asking travelers not to film crew or other passengers without first asking permission.
"It definitely sounds like a good idea," Walters said. "Hopefully, more airlines will take a stance and encourage people to be kind and considerate."
