Posted on 05/27/2005 11:50:32 PM PDT by El Conservador
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Allowing airline passengers to use personal cell phones during flights could help potential hijackers coordinate an attack or trigger a bomb smuggled on board, U.S. security officials have told regulators.
The U.S. Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation late on Thursday outlined the potential dangers associated with allowing cell phone use during plane flights, as the Federal Communications Commission has proposed if safety issues can be resolved.
The Federal Aviation Administration would also have to approve any rule change.
At present personal cell phones and other communication devices must be switched off at takeoff, landing and for the duration of commercial flights because it could potentially interfere with the operation of the plane.
While some have told the FCC they worry about an increase in loud, irritating chatter on flights, law enforcement officials were focused on preventing a possible attack.
"The uniqueness of service to and from an aircraft in flight presents the possibility that terrorists and other criminals could use air-to-ground communications systems to coordinate an attack," they said in comments to the FCC.
During Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, passengers and crew on the hijacked planes used cell phones as well as phones embedded in the seats to call for help and talk to loved ones.
If the cell phone ban were lifted, law enforcement authorities worry an attacker could use the device to coordinate with accomplices on the ground, on another flight or seated elsewhere on the same plane.
If wireless phones are to be allowed in-flight, the law enforcement agencies urged that users be required to register their location on a plane before placing a call and that officials have fast access to call identification data.
"There is a short window of opportunity in which action can be taken to thwart a suicidal terrorist hijacking or remedy other crisis situations on board an aircraft," the agencies said in the comments.
The security officials also worried that personal phone use could increase the risk of a remotely-controlled bomb being used to bring down an airliner. But they acknowledged simple radio-controlled explosive devices have been used in the past on planes and the first line of defense was security checks at airports.
Still, "the departments believe that the new possibilities generated by airborne passenger connectivity must be recognized," they said.
MORE AIR RAGE?
In other filings with FCC, several flight attendants worried that allowing cell phones to be used on planes could make their jobs harder during an emergency and lead to further cases of air rage by passengers.
"The introduction of cell phone use in the cabin will not only increase tension among passengers, it will compromise flight attendants' ability to maintain order in an emergency," said American Airlines flight attendant Joyce Berngard.
The possibility of air rage incidents also raised concerns among law enforcement who feared that it could complicate the job of armed air marshals disguised as passengers who are deployed on thousands of U.S. airline flights each week.
"The first and overriding priority of federal law enforcement on board aircraft is to ensure the safety of the aircraft and the flight," the law enforcement officials said.
I really paid attention to this part because that's why my cousin is alive. He was on the 5th floor in a conference room looking out. The plane came in UNDER his location.
This stuff, of course, runs in the family. I, myself, survived a collision with a speeding freight train when our car slid down an icy hill in January right into it's path.
Another possibility for a villain to get coordinates would be sighting, using the sun's position as reference, from two or more other visitable landmarks at such a time and place that both the building and the sun can be seen.
That would be a startling sight
You know, what the heck? Let's just bar code everyone. Easy to identify then, right? We can make it all the more appealing by including snappy slogans with the barcode like "Arbeit Mach Frei" or something.
/Rant Off
Ok, so there may be a rational explanation here, but think about this: Just how much are we going to take away from the average citizen because of terrorism? This may not be such a sacrifice, but think about how much terrorism has altered our culture and society in the past four years?
It's getting to the point where "tolerance" is a convenience I don't believe we can afford anymore.
And if during 9-11 the airline passengers on the 4th Hi-jacked Plane did not have cell phones then the 4th plane would have hit Camp David.
excellent observation.
It sounds to me like they are loudly slamming closed a door whose openness only mattered years ago. More window dressing. Cockpits are sealed off in flight now, and an attempted hijacking of a commercial flight to turn it into a bomb against a building would be much harder and much more likely to fail. So the guidance issue is moot. I'd bet my whole net worth that Al Qaeda and friends would never try that again when there are much easier ways for it to wreak havoc on civilization. Such as trucking in a nuke or a germ bomb over our non-border with the Land of La Mordida.
I just find it frustrating that the efforts to present the "air" of more secruity infringes upon conveniences that we previously took for granted.
The curse of political correctness has effectively neutered any true effort at implementing real security. For all the talk of the politicians, Americas borders are left wide open and each effort to eradicate the real problems is met head on the leftists, who truly appear to want this nation to die.
*sigh*
There's got to be a breaking point in sight. Something has to give. One more major attack and we'll see who's politics and vision on this issue will prevail.
Security means nothing. islam is there. Death to us infidels is what matters. We are not addressing the problem as it is. So we'll have to lose more and more rights instead of destroying islam.
Personal cell phone users have always annoyed me because they have absolutely nothing to say on them but they always say it loud for everybody around them to hear. On a recent trip to Nashville, while the plane was still on the ground, everybody around me was calling their relatives saying "Hello, just letting you know that we are now sitting in the plane. That's right, we'll sitting on the plane now...uh, huh, just sitting right here on the plane. It looks cloudy out there...well, we're sitting in the plane right now waiting to take off. That's right, just sitting here on the plane here in Newark and it looks like we are going to be taking off soon. Uh-huh, that's right. Just sitting here on the plane, waiting to take off. Looks like rain where we are going. But we are still here on the plane, waiting to take off..."
They are absolutely annoying.
I hate air travel with a passion. Whenever I can drive instead of fly, I drive. Even if it's over 1000 miles. The whole experience of flying sucks. I hate airports. I hate airplanes. I hate the way that the stewardesses go through so much trouble to hand out food, clogging up the entire aisle for the entire flight with their carts, just to hand out a tiny bag of snacks and a drink. Can't they serve this crap in the gate area BEFORE the flight! Can't people get through a freaking two-hour flight without having to have a tiny bag of snacks and a drink? If not, can't they just paper-bag it so they can save us the hassle of having to put up with a food/drink cart clogging the aisle for the entire flight? That whole food/drink thing makes me claustrophobic.
I had a nightmare recently about having to take a leak in a plane really bad but I can't get to the lavratory because that infernal food/drink cart is between me and the lav and the stewardess is handing out tiny bags of peanuts and soda to 400-pound fatties. I'm standing in the aisle trying to keep control of my bladder and everybody on the plane is laughing at me and the stewardess waves at me and says "Would you like another drink?" Then everybody laughs again, a whole plane full of 400-lb fatties are laughing at me as they dig their stubby fingers into tiny bags of peanuts that the stewardess is handing out.
Everything about air travel annoys me and stresses me out. The way they do rental cars. The way the baggage gets handled. The way they do security. The way that the overpriced restaurants are located so far from the gates so that you are always nervous about missing your flight when you go to one.
I wonder if any of these people remember why there were only 3 planes flown into buildings on 9/11? Cell phones actually helped to stop the fourth plane from making it to the White House.
I just flew from Florida to NYS and forgot to turn off my cell phone on one leg of the trip. If a terrorist wants to use a phone while in flight, they can do so easily. So what will not allowing use of them do? Nothing ,, the law abiding citizen will comply and only the law abiding citizen. k2afe
Thank you. If interesting how the feds forget when it is the citizens who bail their (feds) asses out of the fire, even when it cost of their (citizens) own lives.
It seems to me that keeping the drink and snack supply in the galley and just walking the provisions to the passengers one row at a time would suffice, at least in the non-jumbo jets. It would also be friendlier as the stews could walk past one another, or past any passenger in the aisle, as they needed to, instead of being locked into a pushmepullyou dance. Put items which are frequently used in other-than-unit-container quantities (such as milk and coffee) into a backpack, with hoses and dispenser nozzles.
It was indeed the access to cell phones that told us and the very brave passengers on that flight a lot about the plane that went down in Pennsylvania. Without that information, I'm sure Gorelick and the other eminent???? members of the 9-11 committee would have concluded that we shot it down.
It's really the decision on when to dive that determined what happened at the Pentagon. I still believe that his real intent was the Capitol Building and the Mall was to be the guiding lines but he missed his approach. The Capitol and the Mall fits the code uttered by Atta to another Arab: "A Cake with a stick hanging down". The Capitol Building being a tiered cake...the Mall the stick. An overhead of the area fits it to a T.
A pair of $20 FRS radios from Wal Mart
Make sure they have a "beep" feature that notifies you when someone keys a radio on your channel/code
Model rocket igniter.
Done.
Our "law enforcement officials" must have a lot of time on their hands if they worry about cell phones on planes.
GPS (for use on the ground is readily available. My VERY OLD little $200 Garmin checked within 0.3 seconds in both directions of a $50,000 Leica setup.
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