I think the jury's out on that one, considering the numbers of nutcase episodes that have occurred mid-air in recent years. Probably not a threat to the flying crew, but to other passengers, possibly.
I wouldn't know, because I've refused to fly for years, but can you order a bottle of beer, or do all drinks have to be in cans/plastic?
Regardless, a resourceful individual can turn just about anything into a weapon.
I'd much rather see everyone on the plane armed than a muslim terrorist while the law-abiding are disarmed.
If this were really a free country, I'd be able to start "ATF Airlines". When you get on board, everyone is handed a pack of smokes, and their choice of either a bottle an adult beverage or a firearm.
It would be the safest and happiest airline in the skys.
Anyone who thinks you can hijack an airplane post 9/11/01 is dreaming or smoking the good stuff. On the first two planes that crashed into the WTC buildings, the passengers did exactly what was standing procedure for hijackings at the time, which was to cooperate and submit to the hijackers. Once it was clear that the consequences of cooperation was somewhat more dire than a side trip to Cuba, the passengers on the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania mobilized themselves into a local militia, and put an end to the terrorist's plans. A similar fate would await any other islamicist that tried to take over a plane.
Every single thing done in the wake of 9/11 with the exception of reinforcing the cockpit doors has been nothing less than an attempt to force the people of America to become meek sheeple submitting to the almighty power of Fedgov.
Why the hell isn't it standard policy to have armed attendants, if they are so worried?
The only reason boxcutters were effective, it that what happened was a new paradigm. These people thought that they were being hijacked. It it did not occurr to them that they were with suicide bombers and would all be killed within a few minutes if they did not act.
No one with any knife or gun even has that type of ability to do that again. People would act in a heartbeat.
and have already.