Wouldn't it be possible to have anti-terrorist features built into all commercial aircraft? For example, couldn't the passenger compartment and O2 masks be flooded with a gas to render all
in the back unconscious by either the crew or air traffic control? Can't the cockpit doors be made nearly indestructible? Would it be possible to take control of a plane from the ground
and override all controls in the cockpit? Provide air traffic control the ability to flood the cockpit with gas as well. Can't the Federal Government provide one or more armed security
officers on all commercial flights by diverting some of our tax money from Congressional perks? Make it a policy, like Israel does, that we don't negotiate with terrorists. Maintain hidden
video surveillance in the cabin. Make this surveillance transmittable upon command from the cockpit or air traffic control. Keep the bullet proof cabin door locked. If there is trouble, gas
the passenger compartment. Don't open the door no matter what the terrorists threaten. Make the door electrifyable.


There's a former pilot who has reported to ABC News in past situations similar to this and again last night. He made it quite clear that to make the door between pilots and passengers totally secure, it screws with the air pressure in the plane somehow. Not do-able, he said.

But I like the idea of having the plane be flown from the ground, overriding controls in the cockpit. I think we probably will experience more of the Air Marshal whether we know it or not.

I was thinking this afternoon that we could implement security clearance classes for air travelers. You'd have to apply, like as in a passport. People who rank in a certain class (my 83 yr. old mother, for instance) would experience the usual security measures in boarding a plane. Higher security risks would mean total search to refusal to let a person fly at all.

Perhaps not fail-safe, but I think it helps the healing process to think of solutions.

pnwwoman