Pilots Weren't Armed, Either, as Hijacker Made Move

Although Australia has been flying Sky Marshals since the beginning of last year, none was aboard a Qantas 717 last week; and although most cockpit doors have been reinforced since September 11, 2001, this particular airplane's had not.

Bummer.

On Thursday, a man tried to hijack a Qantas 717, that had a crew as-yet untrained in defensive techniques (many airlines, including Qantas, are training their cabin crews in self-defense and disarmament techniques). The Sky Marshals weren't aboard; and the pilots, of course, were not armed. Just what thwarted the attempted hijacking, and other details of the flight, were not available.

Australia has a budget to maintain as many as 110 Sky Marshals; just how many they actually have is a state secret. What is known is that, were they all to fly at once, only 55 two-person teams would be aloft.

What else is known is that, due to the uncooperativeness of many nations, international flights are (defensive) weapon-free. Were armed guards to land in some countries, the question of what to do with their weapons seems to outweigh the added safety they would bring to the flying public. Hence, international flights are still unguarded.

The most-obvious solution -- arming everyone on board, on the assumption that on any given flight, there would be more "good guys" than "bad guys" -- has not been attempted by any airline that we know of.

Australia's Transport Minister, John Anderson, did offer these reassuring words: "I do want to assure the travelling public that we will do everything in our power to collect the facts as quickly as possible and to learn from them and put in place any further measures that might be needed." He didn't mention adding Sky Marshals, arming pilots or crew, or a timetable for child-proof cockpit doors. Of course, nobody is saying exactly what happened on that flight, either...

FMI: www.qantas.com.au