I can’t find a link right now, but I think it was in Time Magazine or some such where they showed pictures of objects recovered from Flight 93. One of these objects recovered from the wreckage was a box cutter, assumed to be one of the ones used by a hijacker. So, yes, conclusive proof that boxcutters were on board was found.
And I believe it was one of the ones with a thick black handle and the trapezoidal removable blades (not the break-off blades).
Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor. You can do plenty of damage with an ordinary cardboard box cutter without modifying the blade. In fact, an ordinary box cutter might appear innocuous enough pre-9/11 to be let aboard an airplane if packed with, say, art supplies or a toolbelt. My WAG.
It depends upon the rent-a-cops that were doing the security check ins. In the early 1990s I worked for a company that gave it’s employees box cutters. These were simply stamped steel pieces that held a razor blade. One time when I went to the airport to take a trip to see a relative I had some of these in my pocket. Showed them to the security guards and they made me take the blades out and give them to them. A year or so later, I went to the same airport to pick up my brother, and when I showed them to the rent-a-cop, he went ballastic and I had to give them to him on the spot. IIRC, the hijackers picked the airports that they did because they knew those airports had lax security.
scr4, knives with blades up to three inches long (I think it was three) were allowed on airlines until September 11. That’s long enough to do plenty of damage.
A box cutter was among the belongings left at a motel in Deerfield Beach, Florida, by one of the hijackers two days before Sept. 11.
As others have said, you can do plenty of damage with an ordinary box-cutter. As for box-cutters with dagger blades, they’re readily available:
Walloon, what’s the source on this information?
And how come no one here has been able to provide a link to a reliable news source that explicitly states either that a) box cutters were found in the wreckage, or b) that someone on the plane mentioned “box cutters”?
Maybe I sound like a conspiracy theorist here, but I wonder if the US Gov’t just told people that it was box cutters and everyone just went along with it without really questioning it.
Sorry, I quoted the wrong thing. I meant this:
"Flight 77 (crashed into Pentagon): Passenger Barbara Olson, in telephone call to husband, said that the flight had been hijacked with men carrying knives and box cutters.
Flight 11 (crashed into World Trade Center): Flight attendants Betty Ong and Madeline Amy Sweeney, made cell phone calls to Americal Airlines ground controllers. Ong, who was in the first class compartment, reported that she had seen four hijackers come from first-class seats, kill a passenger seated behind them, and use a chemical weapon which she described as “some sort of spray” that made her eyes burn and made it difficult for her to breathe. Sweeney, the flight attendant in the rear compartment, said that the pilots, another flight attendant and a passenger had been stabbed or killed.
Flight 93 (crashed into field in Pennsylvania): Passenger Tom Burnett told his wife over a cell phone that he had heard that a pilot had been “knifed.” The Illinois State Police received a call from a passenger saying that three hijackers were on board with knives, making a bomb threat."
Flight 77 (crashed into Pentagon): Fox News interview with Ted Olson: “[Barbara Olson] indicated that they had used knifes and box-cutters to take over the plane.”
Flight 11 (crashed into World Trade Center): ABC News interview with American Airlines ground manager Michael Woodward: “[Amy Sweeney] said they had stabbed the two first-class flight attendants, Barbara Arestegui and Karen Martin, whose station at the front of the plane likely made them the first crew members to confront the hijackers. She said they had also slashed the throat of a business class passenger, who was bleeding severely.”
ABC News interview with American Airlines reservation agent Vanessa Minter and security officer Nydia Gonzales: “[Betty Ong] told the two women the hijackers had sprayed something in the first-class cabin to keep people out of the front of the plane.”
Flight 93 (crashed into field in Pennsylvania): CNN interview with Deena Burnett: “[Tom Burnett] said, ‘They’ve already knifed a guy; they’re saying they have a bomb. Please call the authorities.’”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette interview with GTE operator Lisa Jefferson: “[Todd Beamer] knew there were at least three hijackers, two with knives who had commandeered the plane’s controls and one with a suspected bomb strapped around his waist who kept watch on the passengers.”
And at the risk of repeating myself, a box cutter was among the belongings left by one of the hijackers in a motel room in Florida, two days before Sept. 11. See the link I provided five messages above.
What evidence is there to make us believe that box cutters weren’t used? There seems to be an underlying need to have this story not be true. It is f*cking scary that a plane, your plane or my plane, could be hijacked by men with box cutters. But that’s what the evidence we have points to. (And we can argue for hours about possible evidence we don’t have, but this will remain conjecture.)
No, it was only later that the government lied to us. (Weapons of mass destruction, Saddam’s link to Al-Qaida, et cetera, et cetera…)
Note that the hijackers seem to have combined the use of box cutters and knives with the threat of a bomb. Had the passengers known that the hijackers possessed only the knives (and possibly mace), they could have probably overwhelmed and disarmed the hijackers. Even some passengers doubted that the bomb was real.
Yeah … with the twisted humor, here, is that a plane Can’t be hijacked using box-cutters, anymore. Those self-destruct hijacks ruined it for “regular” hijackers.
Prior to 9/11, the standard response to a hijack was that the more the people on-board cooperated, the less chance anyone would get hurt.
Now, hijacking has an entirely different face, doesn’t it. Noone would assume, that if a guy waved a knife around, or even stabbed someone, that the “safest” response would be to sit quietly in their seats.
I’m pretty sure if someone tried to hijack a plane, today, the passengers would Not sit and cooperate. I’m thinking, even a threat of “I have a bomb!” would result in a passenger attack, not complacent sitting by, hoping everything was gonna turn out all right.
Just my thoughts …
well from this little city girl on the other side of the world all I can say is that I am still deeply moved by all of the events involved in the killing of so many innocent people. Box Cutters or not it was a tragedy to the enth degree and one that I hope will never ever be repeated. Sadly though as this world spins around you can guarantee that somewhere out there, there are more psychotic people who don’t care if they die to murder/injury many others.
Very Sad
Peace Out!!!