So you’d rather let some terrorists make decisions about whether you should be martyred for some other reason?
I’ve had the unfortunate luck to have a gun pointed in my face, twice. Once during quite a long mugging, (held gun to head while they search my pockets), and once while my old place of employ was held up. (Taken down to basement, guns held against our head while we’re on our knees execution style.) I certainly learned about myself, especially during that mugging, because they fired at me when I started walking away. I’m not trying to say I’m some cool action hero, but I was calm as hell and cracking jokes. I would think the main factor is because it happens so fast, it’s surreal, you don’t even register what happens until it’s over. I also had some wacky gut instinct that they didn’t want to shoot me, so I just tried to be calm, and ride it out and crack a joke or two. (during the mugging, since I had 23 cents, I offered them my Chinese food I had just picked up. I told them that robbing people must make them hungry, and they agreed) 
Anywhoo, if on a plane, and I had some gut feeling that this was the end, or I could help avoid it, I’d try to beat them to holy hell.
As others mentioned above, if they don’t have a gun, I’d do it in a heartbeat. A gun would only force me to wait for a more opportune moment.
The sensation was quite real I must admit. I found myself inevitably looking around me as everyone boarded. And watching the faces of people coming on the plane. I was on American Airlines, and I knew Sky Marshals are on all AA domestic flights. I tried to see if I could identify him or her, and thats when I came to the conclusion that fighting against a terrorist would be in the passenger’s favor as there would most likely be a sky marshal on the flight…
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Everyone thinks they’re Passenger 57 when they’re on the ground.
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If you haven’t been in a fight since the third grade, why assume that you will all of a sudden leap into action against a trained terrorist?
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Most people will have no idea what the shit is going on if all of a sudden five passengers leap up out of their seats and start shoving people.
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Most people do not want to be the first guy to jump up out of business class and yell “let’s go!!”.
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I would hope that some ex-Navy SEAL or somthing is on a flight with his buddies on their way to a bachelor party.
We’re not exactly talking about who thinks they are Rambo here. We’re talking about what you would do if you discover your plane is being hijacked.
What is your point…I did not know length of time between flying and fighting for your life were connected ideas.
I certainly wouldn’t think they were the Polish National Polka Champions wanting to practice.
Really? How do you know that?
As would I.
I’m saying that I would choose whatever course gave me the greatest chance of survival- especially if my wife and child were aboard.
I see no point in deliberately crashing the plane as long as there’s a chance the hijackers might land safely.
Really? You are on a plane with your wife and child and you are going to put their lives in the hands of a hijcker? And as those burned-in memories come flying back into your collective conscious and you remember the first tower, second tower, and pentagon being hit by airliners very similar to the one you are in with your family…you are still going to leave it up to the terrorists? You are going to trust them, knowing the only thing they want is to instill fear in Americans by crashing your very plane into some would-be target…wow
It’s not about trust, it’s just about odds. Bringing down the plane myself = a zero percent chance of survival. If there is any chance the hijackers might chicken out then not fighting back is the only way to even have a hope of a non-zero chance of survival.
I think all indecision and doubt about fighting back would vanish the moment that the first passenger made their move. As soon as one passenger got up to fight, I’m sure there would be a swarm of help getting up from the seats.
This would make me feel more comfortable and much less at risk to get up and make a move, knowing that I’ll have a couple of hundred people to back me up. Also, you don’t have to be large, or a martial artist, to overpower the hijackers. The simple press of enough bodies in a confined space will do the job just fine.
The worst guilt I could imagine would be sitting on my hands if a fellow passenger stood up to fight and no one followed…
The plan would be to paint the cabin with their blood and then ditch the thing in a lake, hopefully someone would live.
I agree that you can’t really know with complete certainty how you would react to that dire of a situation unless you’ve been in one before. But I firmly believe that I would fight.
And no, I haven’t been in a fight since I was young. So what? We’re not talking about a schoolyard fight. It’s not about me vs. him. In the post-9/11 world, if there is a small group of highjackers and a large group of passengers, it’s about us vs. them. The more of us there are who are willing to take the fight to the highjackers, the better the odds of survival (communally and individually) will be for the passengers.
I’d love to say that I would fight, no questions asked.
However I’m not sure, I haven’t been in that situation and I don’t know how i would react in it, I hope i would either go down fighting or retake the plane with the help of others… Touch wood i will never have to find out.
The only reason to kill the pilots, and train to take over the controls yourself, is to use the plane as a bomb. If all you want is to be taken somewhere, it makes far more sense to leave the pilots alive. They’re going to be better at flying the plane than you are, and they give you leverage with the negotiators.
Even if I were going to die, I’d think my best chance of survival (however slim) would be getting the hijackers away from the controls. Fighting would be logical.
Airman Doors hit the nail on the head; you have to decide what kind of hijackers they are. If they’re radicals looking to hold you hostage you are probably best off offering no resistance. If they’re Al-Qaida, fight like hell.
The key is numbers. If you’re facing 3-5 hijackers you need a dozen or more passengers to attack in concert. Even armed with knives, three men cannot fight off 12-15 men in a confined space. Regrettably, being a large man, I suspect I’ll be at the front of the pile and the likeliest to be stabbed, but I might get lucky. They could crash the plane anyway, but if they’re islamicist suicide terrorists, you have nothing to lose, and if you can overpower them you might even get to fly a big jet from the pilot’s seat!
Wow, talk about finding some silver lining. You still having that crazy funeral?
I think I actually would fight back, and here’s why.
- I have trained in martial arts, particularly close-quarters fighting. Not an expert, but I’m better than Joe Average. So I’d feel at least partly qualified.
- I have been described by many, many people as the type of person who would. (for example: brave, aggressive, reactive, volatile, etc.) For the record, I take these as compliments.
- I have never backed down scared from a fight. Not to say that I don’t try to avoid fights, because I do, but when I’m in one, I ain’t no shy wallflower. And no, my last fight wasn’t in the third grade.
- I would rather die bleeding on the floor of the plane than crying in my seat.
As a final note, I think WAY more people would fight now than pre-September 11, 2001. So I believe all you guys would be fightin’ right next to me. 
Hell yes I’d fight. I don’t know about the logistics of a dozen people trying to fight one guy in a 727 with a real narrow aisle, but I know I’d be a the front of the line. There isn’t any alternative in a hijacking. You kind of have to assume that they are going to kill you all.
I’m not a big guy, but I don’t think that matters that much in this situation.
Not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
Many nights in some dank hellhole have confirmed this.
Hijackers most likely work with-in the realms of instilling fear in the passengers, i.e. killing someone in front of a large group quickly. A flight attendent for instance. Thus taking some control from the get go.
I seriously hate to think how the 9/11 hijackers did what they did. I’d think there was much killing quickly with sharp box cutters. And then a short resistance with the pilots.
Even scarier would be a psychological ploy…taking over the cock pit quickly through lethal force, behind a curtain, and then talking over the PA assuring everyone they only wanted poilitical assylum…
Nope…any hijacker in my plane is going down…As Ghanima said: