Immigrants propose anti-hijacking system

The terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. demonstrated the extreme vulnerability of our air traffic system. About 3,000 people were killed.

The hijackers did not violate any security procedures. As far as it is known, they did not have weapons other than box cutters and knives. Prior to September 11, FAA regulations allowed knives with blades up to four inches to be carried on board airplanes.

Even after the terrorist attack, there was an incident when a passenger, allegedly suffering from a psychological breakdown, tried to hijack an airliner to avoid flying into the World Trade Center, which had already been destroyed and did not exist. He successfully got into the cockpit and almost reached the control panel before he was stopped.

January 5, 2002, Tampa

A small plane crashed into the Bank of America building in Tampa, Florida, according to the Tampa Tribune. The newspaper said that the suicide pilot was a teenager and the plane was being followed by a Coast Guard helicopter at the time of the crash.

April 18, 2002, Milan, Italy

(CNN) - At least five people are dead and dozens injured after a small private plane hit Italy's tallest skyscraper, causing a massive explosion that shook windows of nearby blocks and carved a huge gash into the side of the 32-story structure.

The small private plane, en route from Magadino to Rome, Italy, smashed into the Pirelli Tower's 26th floor at 5:55 p.m. (1555 GMT) on Thursday, April 18, 2002.

The Pirelli building is next to the city's central train station. The impact smashed a huge hole in the side of the building Several storeys were engulfed in fire, though this was extinguished by 8:00 p.m. (1700 GMT).

The skyscraper, located near the central train station, is Italy's loftiest and one of the world's tallest concrete buildings. It was designed in the 1950s by architects Gio Ponti and Pier Luigi Nervi. The building is one of the main symbols of Milan, along with the city's cathedral.

Thirty to 40 people from the 127-metre-high (415-feet) tower in the centre of the city were taken to hospital with injuries, mostly broken arms and legs, a reporter on the scene told CNN

The Swiss pilot of the Rockwell Commander A112 plane was identified by Italian civil aviation officials as Luigi Fasulo, 75, who was well-known to people at Magadino Airport, near Locarno, Switzerland, local TSI television said. The later investigation showed that he was a suicide pilot.

Security systems

Any security system limited only to checking passengers will not completely prevent the hijacking of airliners in the future. After the 1996 bombing at the World Trade Center, nobody thought that five years later it will be repeated with such a tragic result. It is naïve to assume that terrorist attacks will not be attempted in the future. The question is when, where, and what the target will be. Even an absolutely perfect security system will not prevent tragedy if some suicide pilot will decide to crash into a skyscraper or other significant building. There are many ways to do so and very little can be done to prevent it.

Anti-hijacking system.

However, the problem can be solved and airliners and smaller airplanes will never be used as flying bombs again if all airplanes will be equipped with a special anti-hijacking system.

The proposed system is relatively simple. All the necessary equipment already exists. However, even if the project will be started immediately, it will take a few years to completely implement the entire system and equip all airplanes. This means that the project should be started immediately. The Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) must require the described system as standard equipment for all commercial airliners and smaller airplanes similar to the existing anti-collision systems mandated.

The proposed system allows a safe landing of a hijacked airliner at any chosen location. This capability will reduce, or completely eliminate, the necessity of additional safety measures accepted after September 11.

This system, named Manhattan II, was originally proposed by SF Industries, Inc. in a letter to President Bush dated October 21, 2001, that was sent by mail on October 23, 2001, and by fax on December 01, 2001. The letter suggests equipment that will forever prevent terrorists from using airliners as flying bombs. Where it accepted, the proposal might save a significant portion of the $40 billion planned for improving national security.

The priority of this project should not be lower than the "Manhattan project" for creating an atomic bomb during World War II. . Even if the project will be started immediately, a few years will pass before the system will be ready and all airplanes could be equipped. This means that the project should be started immediately.

When the authors tried to trace their letter, nobody at the White House had any clue where it is. In contrast, they have received answers to all their letters to President Clinton from the appropriate departments. Copies of the mentioned letter were sent to both Senators from the State of Kansas. Finally, on April 10, 2002, a letter of appreciation was received. No word about project itself was mentioned. Does this mean that the project is worthless? Absolutely not! The automatic landing, which is a core of the proposed anti-hijacking system, is not a dream. On the contrary, all Boeing aircrafts now being manufactured are equipped with autopilots that can land airliners automatically. Many old Boeing aircrafts also have automatic landing capability and can be certified to do so in accordance with existing regulations.

Engineers and researchers who developed and implemented the described automatic system do not see any engineering problems to implement the anti-hijacking system, but are very skeptical about the certification procedure with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that in their opinion will take years and decades. The mentioned engineers do not hide their opinion, but are very cautious and asked not to be mentioned by name because this can negatively affect their relationship with the FAA.

President Carter (from his interview at Stanford University):

I think it would be a good back up to have. I think the final decision of whether or not it should be used should be the pilot assuming that the pilot survives. The pilot, once he triggered it, let it be so automatic that it could not be modified again.

Politics

If only administrative problems exist, they can be solved very simply: the U.S. Congress should pass a law that would require the development and implementation of the anti-hijacking system in three steps, i.e. development, certification, and implementation. There is no question that besides SF Industries, Inc. many organizations and individuals proposed anti-hijacking systems. Some government agency should supervise research and development of the mentioned system. Unfortunately, it is a problem even to receive an answer to the proposal sent over 7 months ago.

National security is a major problem that the United States now faces. You are absolutely right that once some time will pass the importance of the air-traffic security will be forgotten. Shortly after September 11 a major newspaper at home published that after a few weeks, September 11 will be forgotten by everybody who did not have relatives or friends among the victims. I do not want to be very pessimistic, but the problem is already placed at the bottom of the priority list by officials who are responsible for solving this problem.

The proposed anti-hijacking system was named project "Manhattan II." I believe that it is a proper title as it reminds of the development of the atomic bomb for protection against Nazi Germany. Today, it is protection against terrorists.

However, it is political problem and can be resolved by politicians, i.e. U.S. senators and congressmen. All Kansas district politicians support the project. Copies of their letters were sent to you. If the U.S. Congress will pass a bill that will mandate development and implementation of the system, the necessary funds would be provided from the already existing fund of $40 billion for anti-terrorist protection.

During my interview with former President Jimmy Carter during his visit to Stanford a few days ago on May 6, 2002, he accepted the project very well. President Carter has an engineering background, and his opinion should count. I believe that nobody can deny the extreme importance of the problem with a solution so close.

This is a quotation from a letter to one of the creators of the above-described air-traffic navigation system.

If implementation of anti-hijacking is in general a political problem, the last word belongs to our legislators. What they think about the problem will be published in an upcoming issue.

The question is when, where, and what the target will be.