[QUOTE]Originally posted by 1Y2KS2K
[B]....The other things the authorities need to do to improve airport security are to add video recording cameras at the check-in counters, and to not allow any carry-on baggage unless it is a single piece which is either a briefcase, laptop, handbag, or normal carrier bag.

 

Sorry but I have to agree with Ben:

Benjamin Franklin. (1706

 

having one or two people on a plane with guns is a joke. All you have to do if you are terrorists is knock that guy or girl out and take the gun. Now you don't have to smuggle one...someone else did it for you. The fact of the matter is...95% of all hijackings end peacefully with not passengers being killed. I am sure the airline pilots and passengers thought the planes were gonna land and demands made..so they didn't struggle that much. Obviously, they were wrong, by no fault of their own. This won't happen again. The next idiots who hijack a plane will have an angry mob of passengers all over their ass if they try shit with knives and box cutters.

The fact of the matter is..it is very hard to find ceramic knives and box cutters. The planes were used as bombs instead of bombs being brought on the planes. The next time terrorists get a good idea of an attack it won't involve airplanes. it will probably involve getting some kind of high explosive accross one of our weakly guarded internation borders..mexico or canada. Anyone who has traveled to these countries knows how freakin easy it is to get accross these borders.

The US being a free country can't be as safe as a police state. It is a risk you run when you have freedoms. I for one will take the risk of terrorists to not have to wear a dog collar and have curfews and go through checkpoints to visit my relatives in WA. Freedom comes with a price...so does blowing up our buildings!! Whoever did this must pay a very steep price indeed.

I think you are actually allowed to cary smallish pocket type knives onto a plane anyway...aren't you? i am pretty sure that is legal.

 

Security measures should be emphasized on the ground. Barring the pilot's dorr does very little as it literally is just a tin box. What pilot is NOt going to do something about his or her crew getting their throats slit?

No, security definitely needs to be imporved/overhauled on the ground. We should OT be allowed to bring out pocket knives on-board. yes, i do it too, but i really dont NEED to. heck, doing a NO-CARRY-ON LUGGAGE rule will improve security too, but it will all depend upon how much the flying public is willing to put up with. We wanted cheap and easy, it came with the risks.

i for one will happily check all my bags, pay a little more, and show up an hour or two in advance, if I am sure the plane will be secured and that security will be real.

 

uh, what if they gotta come out and pee?

 

Port-a-potty in the pilot's cabin. The hole opens up to a tube that sucks the feces and urine outward when flushed due to low pressure situation outside of a flying plane. This way, all pedestrians are forced to were hats again, with wide brims....protects from falling feces (like back in the day).

 

There are several good ideas in this thread. Eliminating carry ons is one of them. 'Under cover' marshalls is pretty good too. Barracading the cockpit could help to some degree.

I would also suggest:

Eliminate carry on baggage, but ALSO, perform criminal style searches of all passengers during boarding. If you want to fly, you'd better be prepared for a full search. People shouldn't be allowed to carry so much as a finger nail trimmer on board. Computers, electronics, ALL carry ons should be eliminated. While this may not be the most convenient, it would be the most secure.

A 'panic' button that could be activated by the pilots. This panic button would activate the auto-land system of the airplane. The controls of the airplane would be rendered useless. The aircraft's emergency computer would select the nearest airfield (prefereably a military one) that is large enough to allow the plane to land and automatically land the airplane. Once the captain(s) had activated this, there would be no way to turn it off, and an automated radio transmission would transmit mayday and intentions of the computer landing. An immediate military escort would then ensue and the landing would be 'supervised' by guys in F-18's. The controls in the cockpit would be ineffective and would do nothing. Maybe this sounds far-fetched, but the truth is that a large majority of airliners already have auto-land ability. The costs would not be that high to implement a system like this.

Enforcement of airspace. What good are airspace restrictions if they are not enforced? You can't legally point a jet accross the sky without a flight plan. Once you are over a certain altitude you are required to be under the control of ATC. Why was there no attempts to enforce the restrictions? On the two trade center hi-jacked flights, the planes executed clear and blantant disregard for the airspace restrictions and laws that are currently in place (I am a private pilot, I know what they are). Why was there no immediate military response (fighter escort) to these MAJOR airspace violations? If there had been, the planes could have been shot down when it was clear that their intentions were hostile. Even shooting them down a few seconds before they hit the towers might have helped save the thousands of people inside of the buildings.

 

Hindsight is wonderful, but by the time you scramble a couple of jet fighters when they're not on alert status, the deed's done before they have the chance to intercept.

I think some kind of oversight of flight patterns will come out of this (if they don't simply make metropolitan areas no-fly zones) and there will probably be fighter pilots aloft and prepared to investigate such deviations in major metro areas like NY, DC and LA.

And more frequent use of air marshalls, plus better airport security and better training of flight attendants, would all seem indicated. I, for one, would be willing to put up with more rigid security if it significantly increased the probability that I would arrive safely.

cal

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Hwy9Gal
[B]My feeling is that airlines need to start hiring fight attendants for their observational and hand-to hand combat skills (jujitsu, etc)instead of looks.

I mean hijacking a plane with only a knives and cardboard cutters?! That should never have been successful.

I haven't seen a flight attendant yet who could handle any disturbance on a flight by herself (angry/drunk travellers).

 

why not just fly naked?