Mats,
As far as you go you have good ideas. Although tear gas is just an
irritant. In the scenario you are addressing you want some gas that
incapacitates without permanent harm. Perhaps the military has something
along that line, but our National Authority has defunded such projects as
not being Politically Correct enough for their taste.
Firearms are out. You don't want explosive decompression at
altitude. The plane may not survive. It is bad enough when this happens by
accident. Remember the interisland flight out in Hawaii about a decade ago
where a large part of the upper fuselage of a 737 ripped off? One flight
attendant was sucked out of the plane to her death.
What ever measures we make available in airliners, they have to be
swift and sure because you don't want flight crews having to decide between
surrendering the plane to a hijacker or letting the hijacker slit the throat
of a small child.
Dan Mehlhorn
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mats Jansson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 2:36 PM
Subject: Re: Air Travel in the Aftermath of the Terrorist Attack
> Increased pre-boarding security is not the answer. These guys used
knifes.
> How many other ways can skilled killers use to take control of people
around
> them? It seems to me some other alternatives warrant consideration, based
> on the assumption that one cannot prevent dangerous people from boarding
an
> airplane:
>
> -Lock the pilots into the cockpit upon take-off, and have absolutely no
> communication, or no way to enter the cockpit. Landing safely is job #1.
>
> -Security guards on every flight might deter to some extent. Give them a
> gas mask and the ability to set off tear gas (as long as it can be kept
out
> of the cock pit), and maybe their chances are greater.
>
> I don't know, one can probably think of many better ways, but I think we
> have to realize that increased pre-boarding security is nothing more than
a
> charade to show people that "we're doing something about it".
>
> Just one man's opinion.
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