I agree that we need to rebuild our idea of airline security from the ground up. Basing it on an Israeli model would be a sensible starting point. But remember that security cannot ever be perfect. The only way to eliminate the threat of a terrorist destroying a plane is to stop all flights. The best that we can hope for is 99.99% security. <br><br>We also need to attack the root of terrorism in a more direct way by targeting those who are a threat to the US. For instance, bin Laden has publically declared a jihad (holy war) against the US and has stated that every US citizen is a legitimate target anywhere. Even if there were no evidence that he was involved in 9/11 or the numerous other acts he is suspected of or credited with, just the fact that he has declared war on us should now be sufficient for us to declare war on him and his terrorist network.<br><br>Forgive me if that last paragraph crossed the line on being too political for this fourm.<br><br><br><br>

I don't disagree with anything you said. I would point out, however, that the stakes are no longer just the lives aboard the plane, and we need to quit phrasing it that way, and thinking that way. In some circumstances, we must consider those lives (or our own, as the case may be,) expendable.<br><br>In the immediate future, the airlines will have to do whatever they can. If the flight attendants and crew can be intimidated by plastic knives, I guess they have to forbid plastic knives. If they can be intimidated by hatpins, I guess we'll forbid them. But I don't know what we do if they're intimidated by large strong people, car keys, shoestrings, empty threats, or nasty looks.<br><br>On a longer scale, though, perhaps we can do better. <br><br>It seems ridiculous to me (admittedly, in hindsight) that a NY cab driver is better protected from his fares than an airline cockpit is from the cabin. I'd point out that even the stupidist bank robbers know not to try to rob a bank at night, since they know about timelocks on vaults, and know that no one, even as a hostage, can open it. Yes, there are some inconveniences and even technical challenges in isolating the cockpit. So what. We're good at technical challenges.<br><br>Further in the furture there are other possibilities. I've heard that an F117 can be landed remotely with a dead or incapacitated pilot. Certainly we have the technology to make it possible to override the cockpit controls from the ground on future planes, if we decide it's important enough.<br><br>I have no expertise- maybe these thoughts are wrong, maybe there are better ideas out there from those who know more. But I do know that when thousands, tens of thousands, of innocent lives might depend on the fact that no one on board was able to smuggle aboard a penknife, something is drastically wrong with our basic approach.<br><br>Pretty far removed from survival kits. Time for me to shut up.<br><br><br>