Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: A simple tech fix to suicide hijacking
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2001 04:15:24 -0400
Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2001 01:09:14 -0700 From: Brad Templeton <brad () templetons com> To: farber () cis upenn edu Subject: A simple tech fix to suicide hijacking User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i Organization: http://www.templetons.com/brad (I know how overwhelmed IP is... Only forward if you find interesting.) In considering ways to stop this sort of hijacking, and looking at various proposals for technical fixes on board planes, one very simple fix comes to mind -- one that was already partly realized. And this fix can be coded in software and installed quickly. It's a hijacking alarm for the passengers, coded into the airphones already installed in most of their seats, also for use by flight attendants and to supplement the ones the pilots already have. Program the airphones so that if people dial 911 on them, it gets through, no credit card. And notice as well that if more than a few people dial 911, even if nobody speaks, that an alert goes out to the Air Force and FAA and fighter jets are scrambled, to escort the plane, fast. The flight attendants could also enter a more secret number that would require only one of them. And of course the pilots have their system. The signal would also go out if somebody tries to disable the system. The main message -- the hijackers would have to stop every passenger, flight attendant and pilot to avoid the fighter escort. And while nobody wants to shoot down an airliner, it could be done if necessary. (Ideally the fighters would have other means, such as EMP or special missiles or a remote control code, to disable the airlines without shooting them down. Plus put parachutes on the planes.) The upshot of this is that it is no longer productive to try to hijack a plane to smash it into a building, unless you can do it within just a few minutes of making your presence known. Better cockpit doors can make doing it in a few minutes very difficult. And if it's no longer productive, there's little reason to do it. Of course, suicide hijackers can always kill the passengers and themselves. But a suicide bomber can always take out 100 people if they want to, and nothing can be done to stop that capability. But turning planes to weapons can possibly be stopped with quick response fighters and the ability to trigger an alarm by everybody. One flaw is this doesn't work over the water, out of cell range, if it relies on the cell system. If it can tie into alternate radio, it can work even there using the phones. However, with the cell system, this plan could be done in software today, for almost no cost.
For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/
Current thread:
- IP: A simple tech fix to suicide hijacking David Farber (Sep 15)