# Resolved: If your plane is hijacked, you have a moral obligation to resist...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-if-your-plane-is-hijacked-you-have-a-moral-obligation-to-resist/82748>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [September 20, 2001, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-if-your-plane-is-hijacked-you-have-a-moral-obligation-to-resist/82748 "2001-09-20T06:02:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-if-your-plane-is-hijacked-you-have-a-moral-obligation-to-resist/82748/41 "2001-09-23T17:42:12Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Weird\_AL\_Einstein \*  
> \*\*I did not mean to “dis” you.
> 
> I am simply asking if you think a moral obligation exists, whether or not we fulfill it. \*\*

Very well. But I suggest you not use the word “ducked”, which means “to dodge or avoid”, unless you intend to accuse someone of dodging.

I guess the obligation exists.

stoid

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**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-if-your-plane-is-hijacked-you-have-a-moral-obligation-to-resist/82748/42 "2001-09-24T03:51:50Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by The Controvert \*  
> \*\*The hijackers could easily defeat this with a gas mask or other breathing apparatus.
> 
> If you shoot a hole in the cabin and depressurize, the hijackers simply don portable oxygen tanks.  
> \*\*

I’ll grant you the heavy coats and the flashlights. But please explain how the hijackers would be able to smuggle aboard gas masks and oxygen tanks?

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**Author:** ![Yuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/50afbb/32.png) [@Yuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yuck)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-if-your-plane-is-hijacked-you-have-a-moral-obligation-to-resist/82748/43 "2001-09-24T11:41:36Z")

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Heck, as long as the gas mask doesn’t have a crayon sharpener or toothpick attachment, I believe it’s legal to carry aboard.

Oxygen tanks are not acceptable if they actually have pure oxygen in them (except, of course, for certain patients). If they don’t have any oxygen, I guess it depends on whether security considers it an “aerosol” can.

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**Author:** ![Acco40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@Acco40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acco40)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-if-your-plane-is-hijacked-you-have-a-moral-obligation-to-resist/82748/44 "2001-10-03T13:39:37Z")

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Oxygen tanks would look a little suspicious.  
…So would a crayon sharpener. Huh?

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**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-if-your-plane-is-hijacked-you-have-a-moral-obligation-to-resist/82748/45 "2001-10-03T23:03:46Z")

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The galleys on an airplane must have implements which passengers could turn into weapons. I think a fully-loaded drink cart, pushed up the aisle full-speed by a train of enraged passengers, could squash a terrorist flat as a bug against the forward movie screen.

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