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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Flight Attendants Get Kung Fu Training


MSNBC: If you're that airline passenger — the one who doesn't shut off your electronic device, who gets up to use the lavatory when the seatbelt sign is on, or the one who incessantly complains about food, fees or anything else you can think of — be glad you're not flying Hong Kong Airlines.

The carrier is encouraging its new flight attendants to study a form of kung fu, called wing chun, according to the South China Morning Post.

"Wing chun can be used in small, confined spaces so it's suited for an airplane," Katherine Cheung of the Hong Kong Wing Chun Union and one of the instructors who recently taught a flight crew, told the Morning Post. "It's easy to learn but difficult to master."

The entire Hong Kong Airlines staff is able to sign up for training, but it is required for flight attendants, Eva Chan, deputy general manager of corporate communication, told the Morning Post, adding that the airline deals with about three disruptive-passenger incidents each week.

Twenty-two-year-old Lumpy Tang, a new crew member, told the paper she wouldn't have thought martial arts would be part of her job description.

"You cannot predict what will happen on the plane, so wing chun is good because it's so fast," Tang said. "I feel safer because I can defend myself and I'm happy to be one of the first cabin crew to learn wing chun in the world."

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