If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail not by posting to this thread.
Posted on 08/21/2005 10:03:14 PM PDT by topher
The recent crash of the Cypriot airliner brings some points to mind. What if the pilots were dead and there was no one to fly the plane?
The answer is using automated flying/landing using instrumentation. Everyone is familiar with the concept of the autopilot or may at least be familiar with it.
Pilots might explain the difference between VFR and IFR flying -- in one case, the pilot relies on being able to see for flying, the other the pilot relies on instrumentation.
Many airliners have incorporated features for landing using instruments only.
It would be possible with technology to allow an override system on the airliner such that in the case of trouble, the flying of the aircraft is taken over by a control center.
It would be a very invasive system to be installed, but in the case of the tragic Cypriot crash, Greek AF F16's could see a problem in the cockpit, and if such a system was in place, the aircraft could possibly have been landed -- without the pilots.
There are interesting problems that would have to be addressed -- would satellites be the way to control the aircraft or some other form of communication.
With computer technology, such flying could be perfected so that in the event of a hijacking, the aircraft would ignore any attempts to control the aircraft from the cockpit.
This could avert the tragic events of September 11, 2001 in the future.
But is this Science Fiction or an idea that is not feasible to implement?
Just an idea -- whether it is good, bad, or indifferent is for Freepers and Lurkers to decide...
Why do you say that? Imagine if Al Qaeda had been able to hijack the control systems of dozens of planes on 9-11 from the ground without even having to put its suicide terrorists on board.
The Military has gone to UAV's -- Unmanned Aerial Vehicles -- so the Military might be able to provide suggestions in this area as to possible implementations. They would be interested -- especially since in the case of an unauthorized aircraft in critical airspace, the rules of engagement may requiring shooting down the aircraft.
Being able to seize control through computer technology would be an alternate to this...
But we'll just need backup pilots in the plane with a double-secret override of the override system, in case the bad guys figure out how to hack the system and crash any plane they want.
Just as someone might walk into Cheyenne Mountain, and launch thousands of missiles...
That would assume a lax implementation of such a system. MULTICS taught the US Military and Intelligence Community much about computers...
I bet none of those systems were outsourced to China.
Uh... how you gonna make airplanes as secure as Cheyenne Mountain?
Agreed. There are various ways to do that, and also that it might be possible to incapacitate the hijackers by the same token. Remember, in the case of the Cypriot crash, the F16's had visual. However, such a system would need to be carefully designed.
Problem is, you then could potentially get yourself into a situation where a kid with a cable modem can start crashing aircraft.
Probably India is a place where a lot of Software Projects are outsourced. Engineering work is not outsourced -- to my knowledge -- to China. Mainly, it is manufacturing -- of very high tech equipment (Dell Computers, for example).
Of course, that is a problem -- trying to get it done, and keeping as much as possible secret. That is one reason that Satellites might need to be used.
Something like Able Danger shows our Military is active in some respects.
If not done correctly, yes. If this is controlled from satellites, he/she would have to hack a secure satellite channel.
How many different organizations need to cooperate to have it doable correctly?
If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail not by posting to this thread.
You probably can't. But the method to communicate would have to be scrambled. Encryption keys long enough to take supercomputers years to crack would be the answer in a perfect world.
In the world of making things secure, physical access is important. Putting a black-black box on an aircraft would make it impossible to break into if such a box would have to be tampered with inflight, and could be put into the aircraft into such a place that it would requires a multi-hour job for mechanics on the ground to replace.
The only reason Cheyenne Mountain is secure is because it is not accessible -- especially certain areas. And any good security system might require breaking into multiple points -- not just one point.
I would imagine it is still highly classified, but NORAD probably had a lot to say with what was going on with Aircraft flights on September 11 after the first 3 crashes on that day.
Satellites would have to be a tough thing to break -- or whatever the communication from a remote location to the aircraft.
It would be a non-trivial problem to try to solve.
A better rebuttal would be: Why hasn't Al Qaeda attempted to take over a UAV in flight? That would be non-trivial to do currently or I hope it is...
A better solution is just to let everybody on an airplane carry a knife or other such weapon. A few terrorists even with guns, wouldn't stand a chance against 200+ angry passengers that think they'll die.
The 9/11 hijackings just simply won't happen again. Flight 93 proved it.
Personally I think (from what is known so far) that the air conditioning system failed. Either depressurizing the plane or by failing to exhaust the CO2 from the passengers breathing. Imagine being locked up in a small basically sealed container with over 100 people. The oxygen wouldn't last long. In addition the cabin could be over pressurized as a result preventing the oxygen masks from working properly. The CO2 possibility could possibly sneak up on you because you wouldn't really notice until it was too late. You're still breathing normally, just not getting the oxygen you need.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.