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in reply to Arm the flight attendants and lock the cockpit.

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Re: Re: Arm the flight attendants and lock the cockpit.
by Zaxo (Archbishop) on Sep 15, 2001 at 02:34 UTC

    I think that events have now made highjackings impossible. There are no threats to compare with the demonstrated consequences of giving up.

    What flight crew will now open the cockpit? What passenger will believe in personal survival? Statistically, every flight has aboard people of demonstrated selfless courage: veterans, police, firefighters, nurses. Add to that the many who have never been tested but will rise to the occasion.

    There is evidence that the passengers of Flight 93 did just that. Sooner, with more altitude, with the flight crew still in control, they would have succeeded. As it is, they became immortal heroes.

    We may discover what the terrorists intended for Flight 93, but we cannot know what awful compounding of horror was spared us by the passengers' sacrifice.

    Who will take a wound assisting another to overpower a man with a knife? Someone will consciously decide to.

    Who will believe a bomb threat? We now know that a quick prayer and a throw of the dice is in order.

    Who will believe that their obedience to a fanatic will spare a child with a knife at its throat? Nobody.

    Everyone who flies should think on this. If you feel like a leader, lead. Enough will follow. Pilots and those with medical training should hold back. You may be needed afterwards.

    Summary Added: If you act you may live. If you do not all will die.

     
    Zaxo

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