I can't tell who is serious here or not anymore (downside of a humor forum where people are joking all the time)
but the story is no joke. One of my part-time pilots works for the airport police and had to deal with this mess
(he writes the speeches for the police chief....)
I was just surprised how Baradium can know in an instant what would work and what wouldn't.....
What if the teen was 6 feet tall and the flight crew was little people (or chickens?)
I meant the idea of success was a joke, not the event itself.
Want my list of reasons?
1) Passengers will no longer again allow an aircraft to be taken over. My roommate was on an aircraft two weeks ago where a guy went crazy and made a break towards the front (this is after making a scene about where his "seat" was supposed to be). He didn't make it 5 steps before there were a half dozen passengers on top of him with more ready to take a go at it. Today's passengers won't allow it. But we can assume that we're on a plane full of wimps and they just sit and watch.
2) In that case the flight crew *used* to be trained to be passive and allow hijackers control of aircraft with the idea of negotiations later. Now they are trained to never allow control of the aircraft to be taken from them. Even *if* this single guy can take out all the flight attendents and get to the front he's dealing with....
3) The cockpit door is heavily reinforced and barred from the inside. Entry is all but impossible without being allowed in. Even if this monster of a man does managed to break down the door, they are setup in a way that it won't be broken in a manner that he can just walk in. He'll have to crawl in on his hands and knees. This is where he faces the pilots. Let's assume that they are little guys too. This guy is going to be sticking his head into the cockpit, without being able to raise his arms against them until he gets through. There is something on the flight deck of large airliners called a "crash axe." These crash axes are designed to quickly cut through the side of an aircraft to *make* an exit when one isn't there. Needless to say, this guy is going to be giving a large amount of warning as he attempts to break through the door and is going to be facing this as he comes in.
4) The cabin doors. These doors can not be opened while the aircraft is pressurized. The doors are designed in a way that the cabin pressure holds them shut. There is no one who can overpower this and get any of those doors open. You won't even be able to move the handle for the doors due to these safeguards. On the ground when the aircraft prepressurizes (this does happen in many large airliners) it'll be difficult at best. At cruise it's impossible. The way the doors open, you'll have to releave the pressure before you get the door all the way open, so no one will be sucked out either. I guess if he managed to get to an electric door on the ground, while there is only the prepressurization to contend with, the controls might overpower it (I believe that since an incident a number of years ago safeguards have been installed to prevent this). In that casse, he might fall out, but there isn't enough pressure to pull anyone else. In flight, even if you could override the doors safeguards, even the motors to drive the electrically controlled doors aren't powerful enough to overcome the pressurization. This is done intentionally.
OK I give. If everyone on the plane is a wimp and not willing to fight (not happening in North America) and the guy is some superman he might be able to do something. Otherwise, I stand by my comment that a single guy with some duct tape and handcuffs thinking he's going to take over an airliner is a joke.
