Stupid anti-terrorist idea

[bart]

I never met an autopilot I could not out muscle...

 

[mar]

Finally! We agree.

Amazing.

And that's why my idea is the best. I will never understand why it's continually ignored.

 

[Swede]

Mar, I think it's because the cost and time to structurally modify a jet (separate pressure entry door for C/P only), is extremely high. And how are we supposed to take a whiz? Add a lav to the C/P? If we block off the forward lav, it'll also block many galleys, and pax up front would in many cases have no lav. I think if the jet was designed from scratch, your idea is totally practical. To retrofit existing jets, that's another issue.

 

[ShyFlyGuy]

I don't know why my idea hasn't taken off yet:

I think the cockpit should be sealed off from the main cabin. Completely. On the ground you enter through a separate door. You use a separate lav and a separate galley. There is no access to the main cabin.

Of course this may be a problem for checking the wings for snow and ice before takeoff or looking at the engines and wings during an emergency.

This is where camera's have their place--on the wing, on the fuselage, in the cabin--but out of the cockpit.

How about we just make the airplanes remote controlled and the pilots would fly in a Falcon 10 behind and above the aircraft, or make them towed in a glider behind the airplane... tied to the wingtips... that'll keep the pilots awake (wake-turbs and all). How about we have a supercomputer that flies the airplane from takeoff to landing and the pilot gets a code from dispatch if he needs to override it, and they'll have all kinds of security questions to ask, including anniversary date and wife's dress size. It'll improve safety, liability, responsibility, cost, and make all pilots better husbands. Hell, let's just quit carrying passengers.

It's very simple; secure doors, and a .45 for any special requests from the cabin.

 

[mar]

Fine by me...

Hell, let's just quit carrying passengers.

Great!

I don't understand why anybody would ever go into the self-loading-freight business anyway...

Pound for pound it's a looser. Insurance sucks. And all the peripheral crap that goes along with it sucks (pax lounges, in flight service, cabin announcements, lost baggage...).

Blah. And now security hassels.

By the way, my idea (though not explicitly stated) is intended for all newly manufactured jets. I didn't mean to suggest we should retrofit them.

All the old jets with cabin accessible cockpits can go into the true freight hauling business.

Vote for me in 2004.
Peace.

 

[pilot_guy]

anyone can be made to talk...

Code idea is nice, but a terrorist can make a pilot talk without having to kill passengers. Physical torture will unlock any secret. No one can hold out forever. He starts cutting on the guy, or breaking limbs, and you can't resist any more. I know some of you ex-mil out there have been through school and know about torture, but you also know that no one, not even the toughest spook, can hold out forever.

Just shoot the raghead and be done with it

 

[FracCapt]

Swede, you're heading for this post is correct.....STUPID anti-terrorist idea. Ok, so the FMS and A/P take over. Turn off the battery and generators. Batt and gen switches disabled when the switch is activated? The crash-axe isn't. In a fight between the crash-axe and an FMS, I'm betting on the axe. What happens then? Oh, and can you bypass all the circuit breakers so that they are disable when the switch is activated?

El Al has the right idea....an Uzi and a couple handguns in each cockpit. What more do you need?

 

[FN FAL]

Swede, you're heading for this post is correct.....STUPID anti-terrorist idea...
...El Al has the right idea....an Uzi and a couple handguns in each cockpit. What more do you need?

It's pretty simple...since the door is the only thing that resists bullets, just shoot on either the left side or the right side of the door...I guess it all depends on whether you lean to the left or the right...but any whoo, shoot on the left or right side of the door and then let the surviving member of the cockpit open the door for you. If that doesn't work...then it's time to start showing the remaining crewmember baby heads.

 

[Swede]

Swede, you're heading for this post is correct.....STUPID anti-terrorist idea.

I know it's stupid, but I thought it was imaginative. The idea isn't to PREVENT the airplane from crashing, the idea is to keep them from aiming the **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**ed thing, and possibly allowing the crew to regain control. If Achmed and Mustapha took a crash axe to the panel, I doubt that'd help them point it at the Sears tower.

In this day of drones shooting missiles at Mullahs, the technology for an internal, hack-proof autopilot exists. It could be done. But I'll say it again, MY favorite idea for an anti-hijacking strategy is to arm the crew to the teeth.