Brad DeLong points us to David Corn's thank you to the passengers of Flight 93 that crashed in a Pennsylvania field on 9/11:
Yesterday, the transcript of the final thirty-one minutes and sixteen seconds of Flight 93 was released. This was the fourth plane, the one apparently heading toward Washington, perhaps to attack the White House, perhaps to strike the Capitol. (Several experts seem to think the Capitol was the primary target of the Flight 93 hijackers. Perched on a hill, it certainly would be an easier target to hit than 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.) As I read the transcript, my eyes filled with tears. The heroic actions of Flight 93 passengers become rather visceral when you read--and mentally hear--their words and those of the al Qaeda hijackers. It remains unclear whether the passengers made it into the cockpit or were about to break in before the hijackers decided to roll the aircraft and crash it into a field in Pennsylvania. But there's no doubt that the passengers did force this action and thwarted whatever attack the hijackers had in mind.
A commenter on DeLong's site, self-identified as RW writes:
I'm not sure if it's a worthwhile observation but one thing that struck me was that the passengers knew the situation had changed - knew, unlike the passengers on the other flights, that it was not a matter of abduction, discomfort and maltreatment but a matter of certain death - and so they fought, knowing that waiting it out would do no good.
I not only believe the passengers in the other planes would have fought if they had known I believe the terrorists are unlikely to use this strategy again for just that reason: the probability of failure is too high. At least I know that I personally will never again assume a skyjacking attempt is a mere kidnapping and strongly suspect I am not alone in that sentiment.
Perhaps I simply watch the wrong news shows or my memory has become poor but I can not recall a single skyjacking since 9/11, at least of an American flight.
In any case, beyond gratitude and grief, I have no doubt AQ and their allies will attack us again, I simply doubt the method will include a skyjacked passenger jet. It makes me wonder if all that money spent on airport passenger screening could have been more strategically allocated.
My guess is that RW is spot on.