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Friday, September 14, 2001 |
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ZDNet. David Coursey and Steve Kirsch conspire on using the autopilot on aircraft to thwart hijackers.
"WHAT WE NEED is a way to make planes impossible to hijack. My friend Steve Kirsch thinks he has just such an idea, using mostly proven, off-the-shelf technology. "
As an ex-military pilot, I can say categorically, that it is possible for this scheme to work. Planes have the capability to fly themselves using the autopilot to fly enroute and land using CATIII ILS proceedures. Most new planes now have triple ring laser gyros, a gps, and other nav equipment that is combined in a flight computer. It is hard to get lost.
I can also tell you right now, pilots would hate it and would fight you every step of the way. They would rather be sealed in the cockpit than let a computer fly the plane. Here are other safety problems with the system:
1) An inability to fly "around" thunderstorms. You can't always fly over them. If you have ever flown through one, you know as I do that it is a horrible experience.
2) Too many panic buttons. The scheme as envisioned puts panic buttons in multiple locations in the cabin. Bad idea. Keep it in the cockpit.
3) Fuel. There aren't that many CAT III airports in the world. It would be a shame to run out of fuel and not be able to stop it. It is also difficult to determine airport status. Most flight nav computers (at least when I still flew) updated monthly. There isn't any data on the real-time status of a runway or approach status (CAT III ILS equipment at a given airport can fail). If there is a problem on the runway you are flying to, you are in deep trouble.
Here is the biggest problem:
4) Equipment failure. One thing all pilots know is that equipment, particularly computer equipment, fails (we in the software industry know that too). Pilots are there to cope with that inevitable failure. Equipment that "takes over" is scary. A 757 isn't a space shuttle. These planes are are used round the clock and take a beating.
Boy, there is probably a lot I have missed. This has been a long week and I all done. Good night.
8:52:43 PM 
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Erick Schonfeld. Business 2.0
"Apparently, in Tuesday's raids on homes in Florida where the attackers
lived, authorities seized desktop and laptop computers. The computers
were loaded with Microsoft's Flight Simulator software, which can be
obtained for $70 or less from any computer store.
The terrorists presumably used Flight Simulator to rehearse their
attacks. Then they could program the global-positioning-system
coordinates of the target buildings into the flight computers of the
real planes and just put them on autopilot. But, the source says, the
autopilot mechanism shuts off below certain altitudes." Two points: autopilots can land an aircraft and a handheld GPS can be bought for $500. I hope these guys don't read about ultralights -- a simpler system with an ultralight, 200 lb of explosive, a remote control, and a GPS would do about the same job.
3:57:43 PM
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Rob Fahrni. I've said on this site that I'm conflicted. Bomb them, love them, bomb them, love them... I am a Christian man, there I've said it. Rob, life is complex. You can't be totally passive nor can you be totally aggressive. The secret to life is balance. Nukes or non-aggression is paralysis.
2:59:11 PM
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Independent (UK).
"I have sat in front of bin Laden as he described how his men helped to destroy the Russian army in Afghanistan and thus the Soviet Union. Their boundless confidence allowed them to declare war on America."
1:25:40 PM
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Israel and Palestine. In many ways we have been plunged into the soup with Israel and Palestine. Our people are being slaughtered (but on a much larger scale). Tempers are hot. Nationalist passions are inflamed. Military action seems to be the only solution.
We must look beyond this. Israel and Palestine, cannot or will not, for a variety of reasons, extricate themselves from the situation they find themselves in. We have no such barriers. We can reach beyond to a solution. We can define the world in which we want to live in and make it happen -- that is the essence of what it is to be an American, reinvention.
To make this new world our objectives should be to:
1) Provide security for Israelis and Palestinians.
2) Enable the development of a economic and social model that benefits both Israelis and Palestinians.
3) Do the above in such a way that the larger transnational communities of Jews and Muslims are brought into a constructive dialogue (Other communities are welcome and encouraged to participate, but the bridges will need to be built primarily between the aforementioned groups)
Attempts have been made in the past, with little real willingness to negotiate on good faith. Additionally, the US has in the past acted as the sole moderator. This must change. The world must moderate. Groups must be included. Bad faith must be punished and good faith rewarded. Also, the attention given to this resolution must not diminish over time or more radical voices will reemerge.
11:35:15 AM
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Three levels. To be effective we need to operate, jointly with the rest of the world, at three different levels.
1) Terrorists. The response to these groups will utlimately be military. These people are fanatics that will be brought to justice but they will not do so willingly. Most of the discussion to date has been focused on these individuals, but confusingly has often
2) Groups based on faith or ideological affiliation that operate transnationally. These groups financially and morally support terrorists. We need to address the concerns of these groups through dialogue, financial incentives, policy adjustment, and the elimination of their disatisfaction with the current world regime.
3) Nation states. These nations offer safe haven for terrorist groups as a matter of national policy. The reponse to these nations will be a combination of the coercive pressure of the world's nations, financial incentives, the threat of war crime prosecution, and military action (if needed, although it will be limited in scope -- our nation will not wantonly drop bombs on the heads of innocent individuals although military targets may be addressed).
10:51:16 AM
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WSJ. Complex emotions fuel hate.
"This resentment is deeper and more complex than mere hatred of the U.S. for its support of Israel, say Arabs and Mideast scholars, though the daily images of embattled Palestinians on satellite TV have certainly fueled Islamic rage. Anti-Americanism has also taken root among well-educated middle-class professionals and businesspeople in the Arab and Muslim worlds, born of frustrations much closer to home: the perception that unlimited American power is responsible for propping up hated, oppressive regimes.
The heart of the matter is pride, say Mideast scholars, the pride of Muslim peoples who know from their religion, history and traditions they were once a dominant civilization but who now feel subjugated by an American superpower they regard as culturally shallow and by what they see as its warship, Israel. Many Arabs and Muslims feel the normal ways societies pick themselves up -- developing their economies, renewing their governments -- aren't available to them, again because the U.S. has propped up oppressive regimes."
10:39:28 AM
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The world is a huge place. There is a lot of diversity in opinion and faith. The vast majority of that diversity is positivist and worthy of acceptance and tolerance. Some is based on hate and destruction and cannot be tolerated. Examples of this are terrorism in all its forms from the NeoNazis that bombed Oklahoma City to the Islamic jihad warriors that drove two planes into the WTC.
It is important that the US, in its drive to lead the movement to eliminate the destructive elements in our world move with caution and not haste. We need to be inclusive, even-handed, and systematic in our approach. Flag waving super patriotism is not the answer nor is the bland acceptance of motives that result in the wanton destruction of human life to advance a zealot's agenda.
The people we are dealing with live at the fringe of human life. They are warped, distorted, and think in terms we cannot fully comprehend. To eliminate them as a factor in our global society, we need to eliminate the source of their support both at a nation level and within subgroups that wrongly conflate their frustration with the distorted goals of the terrorists they financially support. We need to make sure that they see that their world can improve, America can be even-handed in its approach, and that the destruction that some bent minds advocate is not a solution but a sure path to destruction.
We have an unique opportunity to unite the world for a few years to do something great that can make the world a safer place for years to come, not only for Americans but for all the world's peoples. We did it belatedly in Bosnia and Serbia. Can we do it for the rest of the world?
10:20:42 AM
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NYT. John Keegan, the excellent Sandhurst military historian (author of the must reads of military history "The Face of Battle" and the "The Mask of Command"), analyzes what our military must do to fight terrorism worldwide.
"The terrorists think democracies are soft," Mr. Keegan said. "And of course they are soft most of the time. But when they get aroused they are far more resolute and harsher than an authoritarian system." I agree. History bears this out. Democracies, when aroused can be vicious foes. This stretches back to Athens.
Paratroopers, helicopter assault units and special forces could have a critical role. Their aim would be strike fast and then withdraw, not to seize and hold territory.
Such attacks could well mean casualties. "Forget about avoiding casualties," said John Keegan, the British military historian. "Air power can play its part, but this is not a conventional enemy." This war will be different that the cold war conventional wars we participated in. The most important differences include: 1) the small number and elusiveness of our foes (~<10,000), 2) the reliance on special operations as the primary means of exerting military power, and 3) the lack of superpower backing of our enemies (Vietnam's are only possible with a superpower on the other side providing supplies, weapons, and training).
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Singularity Weblog: The next 30 Years. Important resource for people that want to get an insight into the far future of technology.
9:21:26 AM
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NYT. As proposed by this Weblogger, the US sets forward a policy of eliminating the states that sponsor terrorism.
"It's not just simply a matter of capturing people and holding them accountable," said Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense, "but removing the sanctuaries, removing the support systems, ending states who sponsor terrorism." $40 billion is about to be allocated. What is needed is a mix of conventional forces to reduce sponsor nations and hard-core special operations forces to quickly enter, extract or eliminate terrorist cells from hostile territory. This is going to be a 3 to 5 year effort and its success or failure will define our world's international structure for the next 25 years.
9:09:02 AM
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© Copyright 2004 John Robb.
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