Even as a woman plead guilty in a California court Wednesday to repeatedly punching an airline attendant during a flight last May, U.S. lawmakers are urging airlines to make self defense training mandatory for flight crews. House of Representatives Homeland Security chair Bennie Thompson, along with the chairs of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the Transportation & Maritime Security Subcommittee and the Aviation Subcommittee all sent letters to the heads of the four major U.S. airlines asking them to require their crews attend the Transportation Security Administration’s Crew Member Self Defense Training Program.

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Conducted by the Federal Air Marshal Service, the TSA self defense program is a four hour course that aims to teach flight crews basic self defense techniques. Though temporarily suspended early in the pandemic, the training returned in July as incidents of unruly airline passengers have skyrocketed. The Federal Aviation Administration reported this week that so far in 2021 there have been 5,779 incidents of unruly passengers on flights, most related to anger over masking requirements.