Posted on 09/23/2001 10:04:22 PM PDT by Newton
Inside the Beltway
John McCaslin
"I want to thank you brave folks for coming out today," the pilot began. "We don't have any new instructions from the federal government, so from now on, we're on our own."
The passengers listened in total silence.
"Sometimes a potential hijacker will announce that he has a bomb. There are no bombs on this aircraft and if someone were to get up and make that claim, don't believe him. If someone were to stand up, brandish something such as a plastic knife and say, 'This is a hijacking' or words to that effect, here is what you should do:
"Every one of you should stand up and immediately throw things at that person — pillows, books, magazines, eyeglasses, shoes — anything that will throw him off balance and distract his attention. If he has a confederate or two, do the same with them. Most important: get a blanket over him, then wrestle him to the floor and keep him there. We'll land the plane at the nearest airport and the authorities will take it from there.
"Remember, there will be one of him and maybe a few confederates, but there are 200 of you. Now, since we're a family for the next few hours, I'll ask you to turn to the person next to you, introduce yourself, tell them a little about yourself and ask them to do the same."
The end of this remarkable speech, Mr. Hannaford says, brought sustained clapping from the passengers.</bq
"Every one of you should stand up and immediately throw things at that person — pillows, books, magazines, eyeglasses, shoes — anything that will throw him off balance and distract his attention. If he has a confederate or two, do the same with them. Most important: get a blanket over him, then wrestle him to the floor and keep him there. We'll land the plane at the nearest airport and the authorities will take it from there.
"Remember, there will be one of him and maybe a few confederates, but there are 200 of you. Now, since we're a family for the next few hours, I'll ask you to turn to the person next to you, introduce yourself, tell them a little about yourself and ask them to do the same."
Beautiful, beautiful speech. If every pilot said that before taking off, there'd be no need for 2-hour waits at the airline counter, national ID cards, or any of the other silly and/or expensive reactions they're talking about.
(Nevertheless: Arm the pilots!)
Maybe you should re-read the article, which states:
"The plane was due to leave at 6:48 p.m. from Austin and to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. "
They were already in Texas, and trying to get to North Carolina. The fact is, they've been in Texas and Oklahoma for years. Many Freepers have known about it, but apparently the FBI was caught unawares. (Or so they claim.)
Well, we "lost" Desert Storm, too. Just ask Saddam Hussein.
The Arabs consider it a win for them if we don't physically conquer and occupy every inch of their countries.
This is a very low standard, so by that standard, the kid is right. We're not going to be crazy enough to conquer territory and remain there as targets for suicide bombers.
Ok, people of the Muslim faith then need to take action and clean them out. We will fight the radicals and it is up to the Muslims to fight them or they will turn their faith into a terrorist organization.
As an example - say Christians had people using domestic airplanes to bomb those they hated. The attacked nation of course would attack Christians. To avoid an all out world attack on Christians, the Christians themselves must go after the radical Christians taking over their faith in the eyes of the world. Otherwise, the normal Christians appear as if they condone the action and then the radicals have torn down their religion as well as made it into a terrorist organization.
The Muslim faith has to clean house unless they want the radicals to steal their faith and turn it into merely a terrorist organization. It is up to them. We are not to be faulted for fighting terrorism - we were attacked.
The new Austin-Bergstrom is great and is one of the best airports I've ever flown into.
Hmmmm....where did you hear that? This is the first I've heard this.
LOL! Sometimes it's wise to have multiple posts. It's early and I read every single one of them as if they were all different. LOL! Good morning.
My husband is doing some flying in October and we as a family are flying cross-country soon. Good reminder and advice in what you posted.
I went to school with those same guys in the late '70's. Most were glad to be out of Iran after the mullahs took over. I worked with one guy (mechanical engineer), who was supporting his extended family, who had escaped after the fall of the Shah and the rise of Khomeni. He was good people. His kids are probably as American as apple pie now, 20+ years later.
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