You guys need a little more imagination if you're going to become good terrorists...
The passenger rebellion factor is relatively easy to overcome. Use the same techniques that we use to find lightly booked flights to get easier upgrades, or heavily booked flights to get IDB vouchers, to find lightly booked flights then put more hijackers on each airplane. 50 random passengers aren't going to have much change against 20 young, fit, trained hijackers in the small confines of an airliner.
Harder to overcome, though not impossible, are the locked cockpit door and no cooperation procedures. Getting past that locked door would likely require some kind of diversion which looks nothing at all like a hijacking. i.e. Medical problem, small cabin fire, etc.
Read up on PSA Flight 1771 for the more likely scenario. Yet ground personnel can still bypass security.
The security hole that David Burke used on PSA1771 was closed in the early 1990s when the electronic ID badge access systems were installed in all commercial airports. The airlines can now turn off an employees airport access immediately. Once off, the only way for the employee to get air-side is through security.
Originally Posted by
VelvetJones
I mean 9/11 in the context of hijackers, either lone or in multiple teams, taking over planes and using them as missiles. This scenario is the one the TSA uses to justify it's existence
Actually, it's not.
The main focus of TSA is preventing explosives from getting on board as evidenced by all of the technologies and procedures that they have implemented over the past ten years aimed squarely at explosive detection. 100% screening of checked baggage for explosives, better x-ray scanners which can highlight the difference between organic and inorganic materials in carry-on bags, ETD screening, AIT scanners, and the all-popular enhanced pat-down procedure.
While preventing weapons which would aid in a conventional hijacking is still part of their mission, the chances of such an attack succeeding has been reduced and the terrorists have switched their method of attack to explosives.