Could an Emergency Remote Control of a Commercial Aircraft prevented this weeks mass murder?

a reply to: ChesterJohn

And if someone with bad intentions gets hired to work the ground side? All they'd need to do is get one or two pilots with them.

a reply to: Zaphod58

if the lockout switch is not pushed the access code will allow access. if the access panel or the switch is pushed it would trigger the remote site to take control.


many a way around many of the problems.

be positive and be safe.

going to work.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: ChesterJohn

Absolutely not. That's begging for a major disaster. What's to stop someone that finds out they're about to be fired, or their spouse is leaving them, or any of a number of other things, from taking control of a large plane, or several planes and deliberately crashing them.

Exactly. Almost all of the time, the crew is---as the MBA's say---slightly more 'incentivized' to come back safely than anybody else.

Forget what I said in this post.... move along.

Remove the cockpit doors. That's it plain and simple. 9-11 made hijacking obsolete. If somebody tries to hijack a plane the passengers will rebel against them.

a reply to: JIMC5499

No.

More would just attempt to take over planes if there were no doors!

Maybe a forcefield instead of doors!

a reply to: ChesterJohn

Probably be easier to make a key code on the door that can overide the lock.

originally posted by: JIMC5499
Remove the cockpit doors. That's it plain and simple. 9-11 made hijacking obsolete. If somebody tries to hijack a plane the passengers will rebel against them.

Now that we're thinking along those lines, how about this one: long knives in a number of locked boxes throughout the cabin, requiring crew member's key to open. Equalizers.

Too much danger from drunk pax?

And there haven't been many hijackings since 9/11---only a few suicide bombing attempts quickly followed by beat-downs.

Was it the doors, or passenger behavior?

a reply to: ChesterJohn

The problem is that this would be an expensive and difficult solution for something that is incredibly rare of an event.

I posted in another thread that in 30 years, I can remember 5 pilot suicides/murders. I'm sure there may have been a couple more, but fewer than 10 in 30 years.

originally posted by: dragonridr
a reply to: ChesterJohn

Probably be easier to make a key code on the door that can overide the lock.

that made me think.

how about a separate communications center in the cabin (with it's own power supply not hooked up to the cockpit at all). along with a non-lockout cockpit door, with an access number not known to anyone on-board the aircraft. there is a problem you radio in, the ground can contact the pilots and between that and flight details decide if there is an issue. in the case they think there is an issue they then contact (needs to be a constant hookup between control centers and whoever has the codes) whoever keeps the codes and passes that information to the crew. they could even have some sort of stun weapon or something locked with the same code in case they need to subdue whoever is in control.

a reply to: ChesterJohn

Another knee jerk and astounding reaction, worthy of our government, surprised to see it suggested here. After the terror of 911 our politicians created a monstrosity called Homeland Security which arguably has done very little to stop the problem. What could possibly come from this very bad idea ? Stop and think for a moment without the emotions that this latest event stirs.

As has been pointed out, there are an amazing amount of flights in the air all of which have two pilots on board and your suggestion calls for another pilot not aboard the aircraft in question on the ground ? Talk about your major expense ! Already expensive this would double or triple the cost of flying after each plane was equipped with this remote technology, salaries for a pilot to monitor every flight, and the expense that goes along with it, pensions, medical, and the maintaining of such systems.

I don't have an answer but I do know this suggestion is not the right one, what a mess it would create. We need to slow down and stop thinking with emotions before we can find some sort of solution.

The problem with putting more stuff in to protect against the extremely rare what ifs is should something fail like the remote control unit so suddenly theres no pilot in charge anywhere and the planes just going to fly until it crashes due to lack of fuel.

Plus this would have to be a world wide system which in theory would allow possibly any nation to take over a plane which would make the tin foil hats shake a bit as all you would need to do is find out the code and when you're over that countries airspace punch it in and then its under their control

To answer some questions

There may be a few of these types of incidents but what if this system was in place when the asiaair went missing. If the pilot hit that switch maybe the plane could have saved by remote.

This idea is not an kill all for every scenario but it could help. If you knew this system was available you would not fear as much to fly

a reply to: Maxatoria

No country could purposely take control if the on board switch has not been activated.

And it would not have to located in every nation as it could be piloted from anywhere in the world. Much like how drones are piloted from California

a reply to: ChesterJohn

And the chances are it wouldn't have. Something made the crew of that fight pull the nose up steeply and stall. The most likely cause of that is bad data to the air Data Computer. Which means that anyone on the ground would have had the same bad data.

reply to: Zaphod58

Like I said it is not 100% foolproof but 80% is better than zero

a reply to: ChesterJohn

And this is an incredibly complex solution to an incredibly rare problem. It's far simpler to require a second crew member in the cockpit when one leaves.

a reply to: ChesterJohn

Zaphod said it right in a different thread. If a terrorist/madman/psycho wants control of an aircraft they will eventually do it. Lets not give them another weapon to use

This is the solution. We haven't had another hijacking in 14 years, however at this point, we HAVE had incidents of pilot incapacitation/malicious pilot activity kill nearly as many passengers as 9/11 did.

The locked cockpit doors do nothing, they're just security theater. Let's get rid of them once and for all.

A simpler solution would be to give the cockpit crew their own lavatory, accessed from the cockpit only. If they really want the cockpit secure...then secure it. Opening and closing an armored door and leaving only one individual in the cockpit alone clearly IS a recipe for disaster. Why is there an override to an override?

How this logic wasn't considered before they installed the doors and locks is beyond me.

Again, thanks 9/11!

I truly miss the days of visiting the cockpit on a flight.