I believe the biggest increase in security since 9/11, is that passengers are no longer expected to sit down and behave.
Pre-9/11, the expectation was you don't draw attention to yourself, wait it out, you're going to have a long day and a story to tell. Post-9/11, the expectation is you fight for your life.
Better cockpit doors and access hygiene probably come second.
I've written this comment here before, but I'll do it again.
"Post-9/11" began minutes after the first planes found their targets. Flight 93—the one that crashed in Pennsylvania—never made it because the passengers revolted after hearing about the other planes.
It only took a few minutes for the calculus to change. Knowing what was up, those passengers flipped from wait-and-see mode to fuck-you mode. This is pretty good evidence that you're right: the biggest increase in security was and still is that passengers will not be meek anymore.
the last time in history that Sovereign American territory was invaded and occupied by a
hostile foreign power was between 1942 and 1943 when the Japanese occupied the
small and sparsely populated Alaskan islands of ATU and Kisa which they struggled to reinforce with supplies and
were only able to hold on to for a year before getting overrun by much better supplied American and Canadian soldiers
Up until 9/11, the US people had forgotten what it was like to be on defense.
that doesn't mean that the US cannot be hurt or have its interests disrupted in other ways the US Mainland
can obviously still become the subject of major attacks from hostile foreign powers if not outright invasions and the
biggest and worst attack that ever befell the US on its own territory happened recently only 23 years ago
> were only able to hold on to for a year before getting overrun by much better supplied American and Canadian soldiers
Not especially accurate. The US and Canadian forces that landed on Kiska had no opposition because the Japanese had already left. They did not overrun Japanese forces that were not there.
Wikipedia describes this as: "On 15 August 1943, 1st SSF was part of the invasion force of the island of Kiska, but after discovering that the island had been recently evacuated by Japanese forces, it re-embarked ..."
And yet, there were still friendly fire casualties, a point omitted from many descriptions of the invasion.
Pilots are also now told to not open the cockpit door, no matter what's happening in the cabin and to land the plane. There is a near 0 change you could take control of the plane. I would be more concerned about someone bringing a bomb on board.
Not just cabin crew, a lot of the time anyone flying standby is offered the jumpseat if there are no other seats available out of courtesy. Especially if they are an airline employee, but often non-employees too.
My dad was an airline pilot. Policy was you had to be in uniform to sit in the jump seat, and, yeah, it's not open to just anybody. If he was flying standby to get home, he would take it if no other option was open.
This is like a person who took a few python courses pretending to be a software engineer with a full time job, the lie becomes very clear after a few sentences.
There's also at least one case[1] where the locked door itself stopped someone from stopping the crash (the CA had flying experience and Mentor Pilot[2] showed that even someone with no flying experience could be instructed to autoland if they know how to use the radio. If the CA had entered earlier they might've been able to land, though most of the passengers would've still died unfortunately.)
One of the more reasonable theories for MH370 is similar to the Germanwings case. Pilots can refuse access even if the person outside knows the access codes for the cockpit doors.
Unfortunately (as with everything else), even obvious improvements have potential downsides.
1> At 11:49, flight attendant Andreas Prodromou entered the cockpit and sat down in the captain's seat, having remained conscious by using a portable oxygen supply.
Yes, however it's not clear how they entered and why it took them so long (they entered a few minutes before the plane crashed due to fuel exhaustion -- the left engine shut down 50 seconds after he was seen entering the cockpit). It stands to reason that if the door was unlocked they may have been able to enter much earlier, which could've resulted in a very different outcome.
That's why I said "If the CA had entered earlier".
Underwear bomber was 2009, and if you search for 'aircraft passengers restrain' you'll find many other stories about passengers acting against dangers on flights.
Hijackings used to be common, they're not anymore post 9/11. There were 27 hijackings in 2000 worldwide. There were none in 2017, 1 in 2018, etc.
Pre-9/11, the expectation was you don't draw attention to yourself, wait it out, you're going to have a long day and a story to tell. Post-9/11, the expectation is you fight for your life.
Better cockpit doors and access hygiene probably come second.