At 1:52 PM -0800 10/31/02, Steve Schear wrote:
At 11:37 AM 10/31/2002 -0800, you wrote:
Another "fix" that is being used is passengers who will act to keep the plane from being used as a weapon. If the hijackers have to kill people with small sharp objects that they can smuggle on board, instead of mass killing devices like machine guns, then a large number of passengers can overcome a small number of hijackers.
This assumption may not be a good one. Considering the level of current security checks, it should be trivial to smuggle some sort of anesthetic or poisonous gas generator aboard. No need for sharp objects. AFAIK, the air supply aboard current U.S. fleets is shared between passengers and cockpit.
IIRC, the regs call for pilots to either wear oxygen masks, or have "quick to put on" masks readily at hand. Cheers - Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | The principal effect of| Periwinkle -- Consulting (408)356-8506 | DMCA/SDMI is to prevent| 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz@pwpconsult.com | fair use. | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA