Hijacked

This is a picture of a hijacked helicopter, the pilot being held at gunpoint to participate in a Russian jailbreak.  (Just happened this week, full story here. ).  It actually worked, or at least the helicopter part did.  


As someone who lives in San Diego and often flies into Mexico, I have thought about being hijacked often, and what I would do.  Pre-9/11 I would have done what this pilot did, which is to go along with the scheme and expect a generally happy ending (this pilot was eventually bound and gagged after dropping off the accomplices and fugitive several miles away, but otherwise unharmed).


But post 9/11, and given the distinctly darker tone of the drug war still playing out in Mexico, I doubt that any helicopter pilot could reasonably expect to survive a hijacking.  Either the helicopter would be flown into a building or open assembly of people if the hijacker were religiously inclined, or the pilot would be summarily executed upon landing for having been a witness, a standard protocol with drug cartels these days.  


As chilling as it sounds to me, possibly the only viable option would be to intentionally crash the helicopter and hope you emerge relatively unscathed and able to get away before the hijackers come to their senses.  Not a great prospect, but if it worked what a great story you'd have to tell the NTSB.