Before 9-11, the correct procedure to follow in the event of a hijack was to cooperate with the hijackers and do whatever they said. The worst thing that would happen was you would be forced to land in Cuba or wherever, and you might be stuck on the plane for a day or two while the hijackers tried to negotiate the release of some terrorist out of prison.
After 9-11, you have to assume that any hijacker intends to use the plane as a missle. The correct procedure to follow is for everyone on the plane to beat the crap out of the hijackers. Even if a hijacker manages to get a gun on board, they can't shoot everyone and everyone knows that they are dead of the hijackers aren't stopped.
Also, even if hijackers start executing passengers one at a time, the crew knows not to let them in the cockpit. Instead, the crew will depresurize the plane and start doing dives and rolls to bounce the hijackers off of the walls.
The biggest airplane danger post 9-11 is that terrorists will simply get a bomb on board and blow it up.
I am surprised that with all the many millions of dollars at the terrorists disposal that they haven't just bought a plane, loaded it with whatever they want, and just fly it into a target.
After all it is a one way trip, and you don't have to worry about landing safely as the drug runners do that fly into this country. -Tom
Yep, I don't think the passengers will allow this to happen again. I would suspect the hijackers would be beaten to death.
I take it that you've never been to France.