AIRLINE PILOTS - Have own security measures

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Airline Pilots Adopt Their Own Security Measures

The NY Times, by JODI WILGOREN and LAURENCE ZUCKERMAN Original Article in full available by going to Lucianne.com

David Butterfield, a US Airways pilot for 23 years, does not want a gun. He is confident about the defensive arsenal already at his disposal: depressurizing the aircraft, so everyone on board passes out. Brandishing the ax normally reserved to clear debris in case of a crash against an attacker. Or just manipulating the controls. "If I have an armed hijacker on board, whether he has a gun or a knife or he threatens he has a bomb, I'm going to maneuver the airplane to keep him or her or them off balance," said Captain Butterfield, a Navy veteran who flies A-320 Airbuses out of Charlotte, N.C. "I was a fighter pilot for 16 years. I can bounce them off the ceiling like a yo-yo."

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2001

Answers

good a thread as any.

I had a similar idea to the depressuring, I was thinking they could install gas tanks with a gas to knock everyone out, then the flight crew could go back in the cabin and truss up the culprits, while wearing small oxygen tanks. I guess the depressuring would work, too. thing is, the stews have portable tanks on hand for themselves. Also, I was told that babies and the infirm might die from the gas, so it would stand to reason that they might also die if depressurized.

The airial acrobatics suggested is another good idea, but the plane can only handle so much, and the design of the plane puts limits on it as well.

The ax, well, there ain't much room for swinging an ax in a plane.

One thing they should do is install cameras in the cabin. Then the flight crew could monitor happenings while in flight, and the video could be transmitted to the ground, thus creating a record for authorities. The camera idea is being used in school buses already only it is just recorded, not transmitted. Maybe they should think about doing that there, too?

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2001


I'm thinking they won't be able to get insurance coverage for gassing the passenger cabin. Surely not everyone would be revived, like the very elderly. Problem with successfully thwarting a hijack/terrorist attempt is you might never know how bad it could have been. Loved ones will sue. JMO.

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2001

if you're on a plane that is being hijacked, consider yourself dead already, and only you and your fellow passengers/crew have any chance of bringing you back to the land of the living.

Any lawsuits that are not directed at the hijackers should be thrown out.

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2001


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