Posted on 09/25/2001 6:54:36 AM PDT by SuppressedNews.com
As soon as they closed the doors of the airplane at Denver the captain came on with some words for the passengers. No ordinary words, these. They were not the dry, half-sincere declarations of gratitude for flying with this captain's airline, not some spiel that had grown boring in its endless repetition. No, this was something else. This was this crew's first flight since the disaster, and the most jaded traveler in the cabin put down his paper and leaned into the speaker.
''First I want to thank you for being brave enough to fly today,'' the captain said. Then he mentioned the tightened rules that everyone had noticed as they came into the airport and made their way to the gate. He pointed out, however, that all of these new government rules applied only up to the point of boarding. They have not yet made any new rules about what to do once inside the airplane. ''Until they do that,'' the captain continued, ''we have made our own rules and I want to share them with you. Once those doors close, we only have each other.
''Now here is our plan and our rules. If someone, or several people, stand up and say they are hijacking this plane, I want you all to stand up together. Then take whatever you have and throw it at them. Throw it at their faces and heads so they will have to raise their hands to protect themselves.
''The very best protection you have against knives are the pillows and blankets. Whoever is close to these people should then try to get a blanket over their head—then they won't be able to see. Once that is done, get them down and keep them there. Do not let them up. I will then land the plane at the closest airport and we will take care of them. After all, there are usually only a few of them and we are 200 strong. We will not allow them to take over this plane!''
Bravo for this captain! If the government doesn't know what to do, he does. I like his rules. Eventually the government will displace the captain's rules with its own, and I just hope that they are as sensible as his. And since the government in presumably in the mood to consider something new I would like to make a suggestion of my own.
I suggest that the government license highly qualified and carefully selected private citizens to serve as volunteers who carry guns when they travel about the country on their business as regular passengers. How would such licensees be selected?
Read the rest of the article here...
This OpEd piece discusses some new rules that might be worthy of consideration.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.