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SACRAMENTO – In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, Don Detrich is on a mission to keep airline travel a little safer. 

Detrich has focused his frustration over air travel safety into the formation of the Flight Watch Hijacking Resistance League. It’s a fledgling organization with the goal of getting potential airplane hostages to fight back. 

Detrich wants to train special corps of passengers to serve as a skyborne militia that would attack their attackers and perhaps prevent planes from becoming lethal tools of destruction like those flown into the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11. 

“People are not going to ride in their seats to their deaths again,” Detrich said. “Passengers are going to do something. The objective is to make sure it’s appropriate and effective.” 

Detrich’s idea has received mixed reviews, though a pilots’ organization has offered its support. 

Ron Lovas, a spokesman for the 67,000-member Air Line Pilots Association, says his members support Detrich’s efforts. 

“They firmly believe that security is everybody’s business,” Lovas said. “They say, ’Hey, there are a lot of passengers behind me, and if they can be used as a resource, I’m all for it.’ ” 

However, Dawn Deeks, an official with the 50,000-member Association of Flight Attendants, called Detrich’s would-be league of in-flight fighters a dangerous idea. 

“It’s a very risky proposition,” Deeks said. “I realize passengers are going to act out, especially knowing what they know now. But we should concentrate on training the flight crews first.” 

At first blush, one wouldn’t pick the skinny, 6-foot-2 Detrich to head any charge against menacing terrorists. He has no expertise in security or self-defense. A stint as a volunteer firefighter in Mendocino County is the closest he’s come to emergency training. 

“I initially did it as sort of a lark,” Detrich told the San Francisco Chronicle. “But the response galvanized me to take it more seriously.” 

Detrich recommends using ballpoint pens, large pieces of luggage and food carts to rush people trying to commandeer an airliner. 

“Move quickly and aggressively to disarm and confine the hijackers. You MUST subdue the hijackers BEFORE they gain control of the cockpit,” Detrich suggests on his Web site. 

Ron Lovas, a spokesman for the 67,000-member Air Line Pilots Association, says his members support Detrich’s efforts. 

“They firmly believe that security is everybody’s business,” Lovas said. “They say, ’Hey, there are a lot of passengers behind me, and if they can be used as a resource, I’m all for it.’ ” 

Detrich said he wants to create a training course, employ professional security staffers and market his idea to companies with employees who fly frequently. 

The Federal Aviation Administration officially has taken no position on passenger resistance, according to spokesman Jerry Snyder.