Untill today, those items were not illegal on an aircraft.
Everyone always thought in terms of guns and explosives or flamibles when thinking of Hijack.
I had a pax break into the cockpit 2 years ago, and I have been thinking long and hard about it ever since. Even an unarmed man will be able to overpower a pilot who is strapped in at the controlls. I'm 5'7 and kinda out of shape. During the depositions in the above mentioned case, I had the biggest baddest manchester cop sit at the controlls of the A320 I was flying at the time and I got the better of him till he yelled uncle.
The skymarshals better be here to stay, because that is really the only chance, especially now that it has been demonstrated so vividly for the world just how easy it is. As a fringe benefit, federal skymarshals will make the prosecution of air rage simple.
In the long term, access to the cockpit needs to be from a seperate door with no connection at all to the main cabin.
Cheers
Wino