What would you do?

When David Dao was dragged off a United Airlines plane, it triggered reactions worldwide.

Oddly what it did not trigger is any physical reaction from anyone on the plane.

Sure, people filmed it. But not one passenger stepped up.

The scene to me evokes memories of a college sociology class and the debate of the human dynamic: When do you do what others would not?

I wonder if Tony Fierro of Dallas wondered of the passenger inaction, too.

Fierro might be unknown to you now. But wait till Monday morning’s news shows kick in.

Another plane-passenger incident happened Friday on an American Airlines flight from San Francisco to Dallas.

A woman with two babies got into a confrontation with a flight attendant over carry-on luggage. Passenger accounts differ on her role in contributing to the problem. But passengers seem to all agree that the flight attendant lost his cool and professionalism too much, too soon and to the detriment of two babies.

Of course, it was caught on cell-phone video and posted on social media.

Fierro is right in front of the camera of one video. He first can be heard saying “No, I’m not going to sit here and watch this.”

He leaves his seat and sternly addresses the other flight crew members asking for the name of the crew member – who had left the plane entry area. Fierro then returns to his seat.

When the offending crew member returns, Fierro stands up from his seat about four rows back and says “Hey bud – you do that to me and I’ll knock you flat.”

The flight crew member, a 40-something guy who’s now suspended, does not even think to de-escalate Fierro’s anger.

Stunningly, the finger-pointing crew member challenges him. Fierro leaves his seat, and even as he towers over the crew member, the worker goads Fierro into trying to hit him.

Other flight crew members get in between the two, and the video ends. It was likely posted immediately because American was already in PR mode before the plane landed in Dallas – apologizing, promising an investigation and suspending the attendant. The mother already had been placed on another plane with first-class accommodations.

This “When is the right time to do something against the grain?” issue was already of interest to me due to the United-Dao incident. The American-Fierro episode was just very convenient timing for this theme.

The United-Dao news coverage had many threads serving the theme of “When is the right time?”

In his home area of Louisville, Dao is a notable figure. The Louisville newspaper did a “Dao has made news before” story and it included some past indiscretions that landed the doctor in severe legal snags. The news story was immediately attacked by a worldwide audience watching the first 24 hours of that event. “Bad call,” they said.

The Louisville editor did a solid job defending the timing of his decision and why it was news.

We, too, drew similar scrutiny with the Robert Seman courthouse suicide coverage – specifically publishing a still photo of his body and the video of him jumping over the railing. It was tough to see, and not coverage you often see in The Vindicator.

Some students in a media class at Youngstown State University called it excessive and sensational. Some readers did too. That it was just a handful of people and not an abundance seems, to us, to support our decision that this coverage was right for the time.

The two plane passenger events are very distinct from the two news decisions.

But they tug at a common human condition that I find perpetually captivating:

“When is the right time?” and “Could you stand up when others do not.”

In our lives and throughout history, there are epic and revolutionary examples that far exceed planes and newspapers.

The single man in front of the Tiananmen tank; Sandy Hook teacher Victoria Soto; NFL player Pat Tillman; Flight 93 passengers. Heck – even Edward Snowden’s surveillance uncovering.

Those are visceral, generational defining personal decisions.

We have lesser such versions of those choices every day, too, and plane rides and news stories are just some of those choices.

The newspaper decisions – ours and Louisville’s – were right decisions to make, I believed then and still now.

Colleague Mark Sweetwood and I like to debate episodes such as the plane event.

“You see the plane event?” “Could you do it?” “Would you just sit there?” We’ve had that chat perhaps 100 times over like events.

I’d like to think I could be the guy who stood up on the American flight – Tony Fierro – and not the hundred or so others who watched a guy get dragged off the plane.

But you never can really say what you’d do until in that situation.

And to elevate that debate to an incident such as Tillman, or Soto, or Flight 93 ...

I just pray to never be in that situation.

Todd Franko is editor of The Vindicator. He likes emails about stories and our newspaper. E-mail him at tfranko@vindy.com. He blogs, too, on Vindy.com. Tweet him, too, at @tfranko.