If the terrorists had knives and box cutters, why didn't the passengers rush them?

[Heifetz]

This is the part where I'm perplexed about. From what I've been hearing, the terrorists who hijacked the planes had knives, and box cutters, not guns! So why couldn't a couple passengers just rushed them to take them out? It probably takes about two people to take down someone with a knife. And there must've been no more than a couple hi-jackers per plane compared to a hundred or so passengers. i think most planes even have weapons like tazers or some kind of shock weapon for unrulely passengers. But this is assuming that they only had knives and box cutters. If they had Guns or proclaimed that they had boxed taped to themselves, it would have been another story.


Heifetz

 

[pillage2001]

Firstly, passengers would only think that the hi-jacking is for a ransom and nobody's gonna get hurt. Nobody knows that they're gonna die.

 

[joinT]

yea, that's pretty much my understanding/thinking...

on an OT from this - have any of you read the Maxim article about this guy who went nuts & the passengers killed him ??! Need more passengers like those !

 

[weezergirl]

they supposedly claimed they had bombs too. and as news reporters have said, most terrorist acts do not end in a suicide crash. usually if you listen to them....u don't end up dying. i'm sure if they knew what they were actually planning to do they would have tried to stop it.

 

[maziwanka]

hahaha tazers......

i don't think u can think of such questions anymore...what's done is done...

theres other things to think of now that require more attention than answering what if questions...but this is my opinion...

peace,
ultima

 

[JMaster]

On at least one of the planes, they did. A lady made a phone call from the bathroom of the plane to her husband and was told what had happened to the first plane.
I'm guessing that on the last plane, there was some type of struggle between the terrorists and the flight staff/passengers, which caused it to crash.

 

[Soybomb]

Most hijackings dont end with mass murder so I think they tried to stay safe and out of harm hoping they'd be out of the situation soon through different means.

 

[SendTrash]

if the people knew they were in a suicide plan they would act against the terriorist.. but you have to understand what american policy and what the plane attendants have been trained to do.. just let the terriorist fly and they have to sooner or later land the plane and then negoiations would happen... but this is a totally new and horrible development in air terrorism

 

[SendTrash]

Do you guys think that if another terrorist try to take over a plane that all the passengars would rush the attackers? even in the face of death? just to prevent another WTC crisis?

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

<< Do you guys think that if another terrorist try to take over a plane that all the passengars would rush the attackers? even in the face of death? just to prevent another WTC crisis? >>

you bet

 

[Jfur]

the news just said a man called his wife and said "We are all going to die. But we're going to try and stop them first" or some such statement. The news implied that the one in PA was heading for the White House, although I'm not sure. That man and several others may have saved thousands of lives, bless them!

 

[Looney]

Do you guys think that if another terrorist try to take over a plane that all the passengars would rush the attackers? even in the face of death? just to prevent another WTC crisis?


I would hope so... i know i would rather die trying to save hundreds and possibly thousands of lives than to sit buckled in my seat praying to God.

 

[Logix]

As bad as today was, it would have been a million times worse if the White House was destroyed in the attacks. Bush wouldn't have been there, but damn that would plunge us further into chaos.

 

[vegetation]

Having no guns was probably calculated by the terrorists in their move. Without the arms, they knew passengers would take the hostage situation more low-key. I don't think anyone would have realized the entire seriousness of this situation in the plane.

 

[samarth]

I believe that they just got lucky that both the towers fell which killed most of the people. In a crash with a regular building that is not the tube style would not have "burned and fell" no matter how much fuel you have. There would definitely be an explosion but it would not have resulted in such extensive damage.
just my opinion. i could be wrong. but i dont believe something like empire state building/similar would have crumpled up like these 2 towers. just style of towers resulted in more deaths.

 

[RossGr]

They used knifes because they could get them on the plane. Guns would have been much harder to get on board.

 

[SnowPunk98]

Its called fear sir, think about if you were in the same situation

 

[ElPool]

if i were a hostage, i would think that a terrorist would be more inclined to use a knife than a gun, because a gun can depressurize a plane if shot in the wrong spot.

plus, you wouldnt think of rushing a terrorist if he said hw could detonate a bomb.

 

[sandorski]

Most of the passengers probably never knew what was about to happen, even as the planes were about to crash into the buildings. I'm sure that future highjackings will be thought of differently by both crew and passengers.