[Charlotte Corday]

"make the agonizing decision to sacrifice the lives of any and all passengers in order to prevent a 9/11 repeat."

Say what?

The whole point post 9/11 is if the cockpit door opens, all the passengers are as good as dead anyway.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

The whole point post 9/11 is if the cockpit door opens, all the passengers are as good as dead anyway.

You don't think a pilot would be torn apart inside hearing the death screams of passengers behind the door with safely keeps him from harm, even though the alternative is just as bad? Or that an F-15 pilot wouldn't feel horrible about shooting down a plane, killing 200 but saving 3000? Just because I knew my mother was going to die in 1993 doesn't mean it didn't rip my heart out.

[null and void]

Yup. About the best they can do is dump all fuel and "hard land" dry.

They can pick a more or less flat spot, no fuel - no fire more survivors.