AA SLF-
The professional pax’s are certainly a part of the team, and I have been assisted by them on various occasions (medical emergency, rowdy passenger to name a few). Glad to have you on board.
There is no doubt that since 9/11, collectively, our response to any kind of hi-jack threat would be treated much differently than prior to 9/11.
We have recently learned that there was considerable intelligence gathered prior to 9/11, that the probability of hi-jacking civilian airliners was high. As a pilot, prior to flight I receive briefings on weather, airspace changes, delays; equipment malfunctions etc., but nothing on security. Most of us have held security clearances at one time or another in our careers. Why not issue a discreet security bulletin to the flight crew, something like -an increased threat in air piracy or hi-jacking has been identified, possible perpetrators (terrorist group of the day). Forewarned is forearmed. As it was, prior to 9/11 we were still using hi-jack prevention and control tactics from the 1960's! Instead, we were all led to believe that the hi-jack threat died in the 1970's!
If the crews on that fateful day had known that the possibility of domestic hi-jacking was there and that tactics and demands of the hi-jacker may have changed (this was known in security circles), then those crews may have had a better more effective response that may have saved the day. As it was, the crews used the tools that they had been given and these tools were woefully out of date and ineffective.
The part that really makes my blood boil, since 9/11, crews have been further distanced from the security apparatus and treated as part of the problem rather than part of the solution. We are reminded of this every time we are made to surrender our shoes and nail clippers.
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