Posted on 09/18/2021 4:30:12 AM PDT by Kaslin
On the 20th anniversary of 9-11, Kylee Zempel over at The Federalist published a poignant reflection titled "Would you have stormed the cockpit?" Through the lens of that question, she examined the character necessary for the passengers of Flight 93 to take on terrorists armed with box-cutters and bombs. She further asked what sort of culture instills that character. It was a powerful piece. But it left unexplored the imminent reality that every American is already facing the same situation today.
The passengers of United Flight 93 were ordinary citizens who realized that their airplane had been hijacked. But that was only the first shock of the day. Until that day, hijackers made demands and promised safety if the demands were met. The proper response was: Stay calm and wait for the professional hostage negotiators to arrive. But that morning, everything changed.
Through cellular communication, the passengers of Flight 93 learned that three other hijacking situations had not ended by landing the plane and commencing hostage negotiations. Instead, one by one, planes slammed into targets, making the carnage ten times worse. It was this second shock that rocked their world. We have had decades of hindsight to process this. But the passengers of Flight 93 were forced to grasp their new reality in real time.
They were trained neither as pilots nor as counter-terrorism experts. They lacked the luxury of time to ponder their predicament over days. Their only authority was the truth. And they had minutes to act. Imagine the hushed conversation among the passengers as they took in the situation and came to the horrific realization that the civilian plane they had boarded was now a militarized weapon.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
What do you do during a hijaking? Accuse the hijaker of racism and tell him that Black Lives Matter.
I think the response on Flight 93 was unusual in 2001
Today? It’s almost inconceivable. We are sheep who do as we are told.
I think given the same situation, there would be passengers who would do the same thing, unfortunately, with the same outcome.
I don’t know...I think there are several incidents, since 9/11, that passengers have participated in subduing another passenger...whether drunk and unruly, or trying to crash the airplane.
I will say though, the authors point of “the imminent reality that every American is already facing the same situation today” is a good one. What are we willing to do?
Hardly.
Every time you hear about some nutbar running around and crapping on the beverage cart, several men end up subduing the idjit until the flight attendants strap them into a seat.
I'll jump up and help and I'm not a small frail person either. I'm not alone. Plenty of us that saw 9/11 happen are still quite willing and able to put some wannabe hijacker onto the aisle, standing on his head till he's quiet.
The heroism of the unfortunate people on Flight 93 is unquestioned.
I would have like to have heard that they used unopened Coke cans as weapons. I’ve been hit with them while working in that industry. Employed as projectiles or bludgeons would give both range and magnitude. FWIW.
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Excellent article.
Indeed. As a multi-million miler I can so swear and attest that nowadays on a US flagged carrier a true miscreant would be lucky to survive the incident. The only restraint would be if the flight crew made ‘us’ stop.
“WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!”
Thank you for posting this.
It’s an interesting question and there are several posts above that I agree with heartily...
It’s a moot question, however, since the aircraft was shot down.
An aircraft that impacts the ground has a relatively small debris field. Flight 93 has a very large debris field.
I do know that if it had not been shot down the brave souls of 93 would have retaken control of the aircraft.
http://911research.wtc7.net/planes/analysis/flight93/index.html
If ever you should find yourself in such a desperate fight, remember that it takes only a second to crush a larynx.
If I’m there, get the man down and put me on top of him. I weigh 320.
Crickets.
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