Hanging out after aikido class last night, watching a couple of black belts go at it on the mat, a thought came to me. I really, really wish there had been some people of this level of combat competence on board the hijacked flights of 9/11. I know the hijackers had some combat training, but a dedicated black belt could probably have taken them on.
So, what about offering airline discounts to people who can handle themselves in unarmed combat situations? People who are likely to be useful in a hijacking crisis. Police, for instance. Military police. Firemen with unarmed combat training. People who have shown that they want to contribute to the safety and security of their country or community, and who have the training necessary to handle an armed or unarmed attacker in a hijacking situation.
I’d imagine that you’d need to acquire some sort of certificate from the airlines; perhaps going through a course in airline security, and having a background check. Heck, if there was a thorough background check involved, I’d even suggest offering the certificates to any black belt who completes the training course.
You’d have a large number of trained combat-ready passengers, taking advantage of significant fare discounts, supplementing the federal marshall program.
It would at least give hijackers some second thoughts.
I remember I saw this in a newscast regarding the perpetrators:
It was reported that a martial arts book was found in the trash or belongings of one of the hijackers. As I remember that the likelihood is that Al-Queda was the main perpetrator. I think the video of the propaganda of that organization leads me to conclude that they had plenty of training in martial arts too. So, I while I think it would help now because passengers will assume the worse, I think the terrorists already thought of that.
Other reports on the cell phone calls mentioned that the terrorists showed items to the passengers that they claimed were bombs. Even with all that happened I know I would do anything to stop them, but what if next time it is indeed a bomb? In light of what happened I would still attack, but I think we get in the end to where the problem really is: the lack of good security in the airports.
To the negligence in security training and security pay on airports we are forgetting that the terrorists were frequent fliers and did so on first class. I think the media is not focusing on this because it will mean that many perks of the first class will be gone. I hope I am wrong but IMO one of the perks was less questions and easier boarding for the rich passengers, the terrorists got hold of that unwritten real world perk and used it for their nefarious ends.