Recent incidents put a new focus on sexual assault on airplanes

A middle-aged priest. A 26-year-old woman. A registered sex offender. Three seemingly very different people with one thing in common: All three were accused of sexually assaulting fellow passengers on airplanes. “Sexual harassment and assault is happening on aircraft, and we believe it’s happening more often because of the conditions on board,” said Sara Nelson, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA union. She cited cramped, confined spaces; alcohol and drugs; fewer flight attendants; and dark cabins on night flights as factors that likely embolden offenders. Just how frequent sexual assault is during air travel is difficult to determine, but FBI investigations into in-flight sexual assaults have increased 45% so far this year. <br/>