Using Technology To Prevent Future Hijackings
from the how-good-an-idea-is-this? dept
Soon after this all started, someone on a mailing list suggested a simple solution to future hijackings: have a "I'm hijacked" button in the cockpit which allows people from the ground, or autopilot to simply take over the plane and take it out of the hands of everyone on the plane. Then there's very little reason for hijackers to hijack a plane again. It seems that others are suggesting the same idea. Others on the mailing list thought such a thing would be too difficult, but Steve Kirsch (founder of Infoseek, among other companies) seems to have put a lot of thought into it. Anyone have any thoughts on how well this would work?
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Hmmmm
1) WHat if the hijacker presses the "hijack" button and an accomplice takes over the plane - you dont even need a trained pilot hijacker then. You can talk all you want about encryption and keys etc., but this is a perfectly reasonable scenario.
2) The link clearly must be radio for it to be effective anywhere, so Hijackers simply have a jamming system that blots out signals.
3) The hijackers simply wreck the cockpit and the plane crashes
Techological solutions to human problems can always be beaten with enough will. (Which the nmd is such a stupid idea)
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Re: Hmmmm
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Re: Hmmmm
possible; they demonstrated landing jetliners on computer control alone many years ago (not with a 100% succes rate - there was a spectacular crash when they tried this at an airshow once - the computer thought the runway was off in the woods beyond the airfield for some reason).
Yes, the highjackers will still be able to bring the plane down one way or the other, but they can't ram it into a target in a controlled fashion. That means less loss of life.
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Hijacking deterents
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Get a clue.
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The problem with the "press a button and give control to others" theory is that it presumes that hijackers don't have a knowledge of how to fly or operate planes. That's a valid assumptiom, based on hijackings of the past, but as we saw on Tuesday these were well coordinated attacks with highly trained individuals. Just as the system could be activated, it could be de-activated by an appropriately trained person.
Reality of the situation is that you can't stop someone who wants to die, once a certain point is reached. The passengers on United flight 93 were able to save other lives, but not their own. We have to be willing to sacrifice the convenience of running to a plane 10 minutes before it leaves, in order to ensure a higher level of security.
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