And in your scenario, random gate/checkpoint harassment would help... how?
Moreover, as it has been shown, these passengers will fight for their lives as they now know that hijackers no longer have demands and that cooperation is pointless. 30 pax vs. 5 Bruce Lees will still result in victory for the pax, even if not all the pax are in the prime of their lives. Also, the pilots will land the plane immediately and one pilot will use the crash-axe to defend the cockpit. I'm sorry, but I still think it's extremely improbable that your scenario could happen to the extent that we need to devote huge resources that could better be spent elsewhere (like catching the 5 terrorists at the ticket counter).
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by anonplz:
I recently took a flight in which the plane was half empty. As I recall, the other 25-30 passengers ran the gamut of typical passengers: black, white, latino, old, young, strong, weak. The FA's were two older females and one older man. The plane was half-full. Assuming that a team of hijackers of 5 (or even more) people board, armed with nail clippers or even simply their own brawn, trained in martial arts, it is not far-fetched to envision them taking out every single passenger resisting, then breaking down the cockpit door and taking over the plane.
Characterizing as extremely low the possibility that passengers would NOT be able to stop the hijackers is wishful thinking. The possibility is indeed present, unfortunately.</font>
------------------
"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry
[This message has been edited by Spiff (edited 09-22-2002).]