Originally Posted by
Semaphore Sam
... but, on speculation; had one pilot in each of the 4 9/11 cockpits had a weapon, might the odds have evened just a little? Possibly?
No, because in 2001 the philosophy remained one of not entering into a confrontation with hijackers until the aircraft was on the ground, but cooperating with them until then. Hijackers were not then assumed to be suicide attackers who had to be kept out of the flight deck and away from the controls at all costs.
IIRC, all of the aircraft concerned on that day were already operating under a locked door policy which was not then universal around the world. If all of the crew on that day had simply refused to unlock the doors, it is possible that the hijackers may not have been able to break in, or to do so in time - and one or more of the aircraft might have been saved. All this is, sadly, only hypothetical speculation, but it illustrates exactly why the hijackers that day found it so easy to take control and then do the unexpected.