This is a personal "hissyfit" so skip it if you don't wanna read something off-topic.
From all available sources, the terrorists were armed with knives.
(probably boker ceramic, or other nonmetal type)
No mention of guns whatsoever.
And here's my bitch - 90 people on an airliner, plus the crew, and they let at most, a half a dozen jerks with KNIVES take over the plane ??
First off, I don't care what the reg book says, the pilot or captain of any vessel is responsible for his passengers up to and including his own demise to protect them, that is a moral responsibility, not a legal one, but still should be kept in mind.
(Reliable sources state that in two aircraft, the flight crew was forced to the back of the plane, I.E. - was still alive.)
Second of all, what kind of cowards are we, as a nation - to allow someone with a knife to dominate 90 people, who could have overwhelmed and dismembered the terrorists if they had any courage.
I know, had it been me, even if they had a friggin assault rifle, I would have gone for them...better to meet one's fate trying to stop such an atrocity than sit and meekly accept it.
Our culture has come down on the very concept of self defense so hard and so often, for so long - that the general public has hardly any idea what it means...several years ago there was a mass shooting in a Texas restaurant, and the victims just sat there, in their seats, and waited to die - they didn't even seek cover.
The general suspicion among the FAA crowd last I checked is that the passengers and crew of the plane hijacked in New Jersey, the fourth one that crashed short of target - fought back, and in doing so prevented a fourth potential atrocity, and if so, Gods bless the folks from Jersey for it.
I shall leave the politics of it to others, but I just really needed to get that off my chest...I cannot abide people who will not defend even themselves, especially against a threat somewhat less than immediate death.
(Stab wounds are not neccessarily fatal, nor potentially so as gunshot wounds, as a whole.)
-R