Guys;

Don't want to toot my own horn here, but I like to think I know something about security - I am a Certified Protection Professional from the American Society for Industrial Security and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, as well as being (by employment) a Senior Information Security Analyst for a major Defense contractor.

Bottom line is, you can hijack an airliner with a wooden toothpick, if the passengers and crew will let you. OTOH, in 1970, an El Al pilot foiled a hijack attempt by two Palestinian terrorist who were armed with guns and explosives. He understood, 31 years (to the month) before 9/11, that if you're going to hijack an aircraft, you need to stand up; and if you stand up, you need to undo your seatbelt; and the minute you undo your seatbelt, you're toast with marmalade. I defy anyone to maintain their footing in an airliner with an ex-fighter pilot at the controls doing negative-G aerobatics . (The male hijacker was shot and killed by Israeli air marshals; the female, Leila Khaled, was knocked unconscious and woke up in custody.)

The real problem on September 11 wasn't that the hijackers had edged weapons. All you can do with a box-cutter is slash a couple of throats, and to be blunt, you could do far more damage in a shopping mall in Boise, Idaho than you could in an airliner. The problem on September 11 was the inappropriate responses of the crew (not their fault, because it was due to inappropriate training) and the lack of basic security precautions on board (such as having a locked cabin door).

It's flat out wrong to say, as Polak31 said, that your chances of surviving a high-speed plane crash are almost zero. Most fatal airline accidents have at least one survivor; in the Sioux City crash, approximately 2/3 of the passengers survived. There was one crash in Alaska where the pilots had to make an off-airport landing on a frozen river; the most serious injuries were frostbite to the passengers while waiting for rescue.
There was a crash in the Alps some years back where it took several hours for rescuers to find the crash; in the end, it was a news reporter who was first on the scene and guided the rescuers in by cell phone.

I agree, in the Continental US and southern Canada, rescuers will almost certainly be on the scene within minutes. In other parts of the world, including northern Canada and Alaska (or at least parts thereof), it may take some time to mobilize a response. Even if it doesn't, ten minutes standing around in minus 40 temperatures is a lot less fun than the same ten minutes at plus 60 or 70.

I agree that your most important survival considerations will be a good first aid kit (although they'll probably confiscate the paramedic shears if you have any), plus - depending on the weather conditions you expect to encounter - some way of constructing a shelter and building a fire for patients suffering from shock, frostbite or hypothermia.

If you really need a blade, buy a bottle of wine in the duty free shop. Then you can smash it and use the broken glass if you need to. <img src="images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />