Why does a pilot need to bring a weapon to hijack a plane?

[HoreTore]

If a pilot wanted to crash a large plane into something, he would most likely need a weapon to keep control of the cockpit. The co-pilot and nav/engineer at the least would notice something amiss from the course deviations, and would have to be dealt with. There may be rules about minimum number of crew in the cockpit at all times, to pull off a kamikaze the other crew would have to be killed, subdued, or forced out of the cockpit. It might piss off the crew, but it's probably for the best.

As stated, he has the weapon. If you think an axe is too unwieldy, then a fist to the head is more than sufficient to knock someone out.

[Del Arroyo]

If you can't trust the god-blessed pilot, then who in the god-blessed hell can you trust???

[dknight]

If you can't trust the god-blessed pilot, then who in the god-blessed hell can you trust???

Alway trust god (or gods, depending on your religious)

Anyway, from a security point of view, the pilot may not be a preventable thread to his/her own aircraft, but he/she can be a security thread for others. Without pilot screening, some terrorist an force a pilot to take weapons into the secure areas, which can be retrieved later by other terrorists for the hijacking of a real target. Or being the pilot of a small private airplane to hijack a passenger jet.

Of course, this assumes that the secure area in the airport is really secure. I read articles showing that during the night, there are time period when the secure areas are opened for all without screening, and parked planes are almost accessible to all airport employee.

[HoreTore]

Uhm... I can order a steak at the restaurant after going through the security check, and get a big, nice knife, perfect for stabbing...