When are the airlines gonna get some real security! some ideas...

[burnedout]

I agree with Russ. Look at the El Al model of doing business.

1. Government workers.... professionals... at the gates. No minimum wage contractors. Ones stands a better chance of catching potential hijackers on the ground.
2. No more knives. Ever.
3. Armed air marshalls.
4. Trained crew in more aggressive tactics. Witness how FedEx dealt with a potential hijacker a couple years ago. The pilot rolled the plane.
5. Reinforce the cockpit doors. Pilot doesn't open the door under any circumstances until the plane lands.

El Al has been forced to deal with these b@stards for years. They have been very successful. Less flights perhaps. Yet from a more volatile region. I've flown out of David Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Israelis don't screw around in this area.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Impenetrable cockpit doors are bad idea. What if the plane goes down in somewhat of a controlled manner and the pilots are hurt in the crash? How are rescuers going to get to them if they can't break down the door and none of the pilots are in a condition to open it? Or worse yet, and granted a little more far-fetched, but what if the pilots are poisoned/drugged before they even get onto the plane? They lose conciousness mid-flight and the whole plane is going down with NO chance of anyone being able to get in the cockpit and intervene. Most everything else I've heard I agree with, but I haven't heard any push at all from the media or officials to start arming the pilots. I thought this would be a no-brainer. Most of them have military backgrounds so they know how to handle a gun anyway. Just tack on some extra training on how to cap a terrorist and they should be all set. It'd be cheaper than reinstituing the air marshall program, and you would be guaranteed to have someone ready to take care of business on every flight.