Gents,
From a previous post in the "confiscated crew items" thread ....
By removing all sharp and pointy objects from the cabin and/or preventing pax from bringing ANYTHING onboard that could conceivably be used as a weapon, we are, in a stroke, also removing any means of defence that either the flight crew, cabin crew or pax have of defending themselves and wresting control back from the hijackers.
From yesterdays news it is apparent that there was only one hi-jacker pilot per aircraft - the rest were the musclemen to prevent him being rushed by anyone else. Far easier for the pax/cabin crew to overpower the henchmen if they were in possession of something other than their fists n' feet, I would suggest.
A desperate shame that the poor souls onboard the Pittsburgh flight didn't have just a little more time available to them....