They were probably waiting for the offending box cutter to get up and attack all 220 passengers simultaneously. Oh, the horror!
If we are that afraid of box cutters, what will we do when they get a hold of a broken glass, or God forbid a car?!!!?
The stupidity of this whole thing has really ticked me off. I keep telling people, "They highjacked 4 planes with box cutters. Think of the implications of this." I usually get the answer, "But, we were taught to comply with hijackers. Thats why this happened."
Give me a break, and think for yourselves people!
Rant over, FReepers not included.
Here's the inside skinny - seriously.
The current hijacking procedures are left over from the 60's. Hijacker compliance was the best idea until 1995, when "Project Bojinka" was discovered.
While flight crews were advised of a "Muslim" and terrorist threat in the Pacific, none of the flight crews were advised that suicide takeovers were in the plans. I doubt that the threat was officially revealed to flight crews by the name, "Project Bojinka." I only heard the name through an ex-FAA security type.
While the same former FAA airport security agent raised hell all over Washington - for years, the best he got was to be charged through the FBI to silence him. Steve Elson is his name, he's been on TV a few times since 9-11.
The Philippine government had advised the U.S. on both the suicide aspect & the specific targets, but that was never let out - even on Internet accounts -
until after 9-11. The Philippinos got mad and told the world that the U.S. knew the entire time.
One-by-one, the "Bojinka" bombings still happened. The first WTC bombing was on the list; TWA-800 and the Oklahoma City bombing had undeniable connections to "Project Bojinka."
Warnings aside, the continuous history of the bombings were living proof; yet the American Public was methodically lied to. No warnings were given, even to the flight crews.
That's factual history; not opinion!
Had the Kamikaze threat been known, the attacks would have been bloody, but thwarted. I can promise you that the pilots would have made radically different decisions.
Worse, the sky-rage issue has been plenty deadly in U.S. history, but neither the FAA nor the airlines would legitimately address the passenger monitoring-intervention issue. Sky-rage training has been mandated for a long time, but the FAA was essentially bought & paid for.
Remember that PSA had a suicide passenger case that took out an entire full plane about 1986/87.
Instead, the FAA methodically ignored the issue. Neither Congress - who knew the threat - nor the FBI - who was intimately aware of the Boston-Logan problem - would change a damn thing. Yet, they swore they had no warning.
RUBBISH!
Guess what???? We got 9-11!
Any doubts; see -
Airline Safety ‘Net
- look to the TWA-800” and “Attack on America” links.
What isn't told on that site is that the captain of Continental Micronesia Flight 985 was a union safety team member. He'd protested the smuggler's paradise designed into the new Guam Airport terminal building - approved by Clinton. That same drug smuggling mechanism allows terrorists free reign in the Pacific. He didn't know what hit him or why.
While Customs has nearly the power of God, they couldn't get that loop-hole plugged. The FAA, again, was silent.
See -
"Air Mike Flight 985"
"The Rest of the CS-985 Story"
Those on the U.S. West Coast are probably entitled to be nervous.
If you're feeling brave, read the rest of the accounts on that Web site - particularly the letter to the FAA Administrator, Jane Garvey. On her watch, the Crew Rest, Crew Resource Management, Aircraft Wiring and Airport Security issues were ignored to an extreme.
After a body count of approximately 7,000, she still has a job. Even after the 9-11 horror, her boss, U.S. Transportation Secretary, Norman Minetta, made a comment on TV about, "...Jane Garvey and her great team."
You take it from there.