What Was Needed to Halt the Attacks?
Cockpit security, quick response not in evidence Tuesday
by Dr. Bob Arnot
MSNBC
September 12, 2001
http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/627524.asp
The use of a hijacked commercial airliner has long been considered the most
obvious way of carrying out a major terrorist attack against the United States.
Tom Clancy even detailed such an attack in one of his novels, and several moviemakers
have put similar scenarios on the big screen. So on Tuesday, what warning did
the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Air Force have once the four
planes were hijacked? What could have been done to stop the tragedy?
Before American Flight 11 left Boston for Los Angeles, the pilot was issued
whats called a standard instrument departure, or SID. A SID requires the
airplane to fly to specific fixes, what you might call road signs
in the sky. As pilots move from fix to fix, they are required to stay within
300 feet of their assigned altitude and within roughly a mile of course.
Pilots are supposed to hit each fix with pinpoint accuracy. If a plane deviates
by 15 degrees, or two miles from that course, the flight controllers will hit
the panic button. Theyll call the plane, saying American 11, youre
deviating from course. Its considered a real emergency, like a police
car screeching down a highway at 100 miles an hour. When golfer Payne Stewarts
incapacitated Learjet missed a turn at a fix, heading north instead of west
to Texas, F-16 interceptors were quickly dispatched.
SHOOT DOWNS POSSIBLE
F-16 interceptors can fly alongside a plane to see whos flying it. They
can also try to force it off course. Once it is apparent that it is not following
directions, it might be forced over the ocean or to a remote airport
or even shot down. The intent with Stewarts plane was to shoot it down
if it was going to crash into a major populated area.
Clearly, the Air Force had the capability and the training to intercept the
American and United flights that hit the World Trade Center.
So how much time did the Air Force have to respond? The New York Times reported
Saturday that military officials, indeed, were tracking the plane that struck
the Pentagon and had scrambled fighters into protective orbits around Washington
within 15 minutes after the crash.
On departure from Boston, American Airlines Flight 11 was passed from the Logan
tower to TRACON, which handles departures, then to Boston Center for transition
to high-altitude jet airways.
These airways lead over northern Massachusetts toward Albany, N.Y. At a point
near Albany, the plane deviated from that course. The FAAs Boston Center
knew within less than a minute that Flight 11 had made a dramatic, roughly 100-degree
left-hand turn to the south.
Controllers also overheard a conversation on a cockpit microphone saying, Dont
do anything foolish, youre not going to get hurt, according to the
Christian Science Monitor.
MATTERS OF TIMING
Flying time to the World Trade Center is 24 minutes at high speed from Albany.
Flight time from Atlantic City, the nearest F-16 fighter base, to the World
Trade Center is just 18 minutes. That leaves just six minutes to launch fighter
jets to intercept the hijacked plane.
United Airlines Flight 175, headed from Boston to Los Angeles, flew within four
air minutes of Atlantic City before turning north to the World Trade Center.
It struck nearly 21 minutes after the first plane.
Why didnt Atlantic City fighter planes respond? One answer is that Atlantic
City is a National Guard base, not an Air Force intercept base, and it may not
have had planes on alert. The nearest air intercept base, Otis Air Force Base
on Cape Cod, Mass., was reported to have launched two F-15s, but they could
not get to the World Trade Center in time.
Air Force and FAA investigators will focus on what procedures were in place
to thwart this terrorism. Why were none of the hijacked planes intercepted?
Perhaps the aircrafts transponder was turned off so that controllers could
no longer see information about the planes on their screens. But an Air Force
facility in Rome, N.Y., tracks planes based solely on the radar reflection off
the skin of the aircraft. That alone would allow the Air Force to track the
flight.
Also, why did the plane turn at Albany? One answer is that the Hudson River
is a natural geographical landmark that leads directly to the World Trade Center
and is easy to navigate for a hijacker whos likely inexperienced as a
pilot.
WHEN DID PILOTS LOSE CONTROL?
The key question is, when did the terrorists take control of the aircraft, and
what kind of expertise did they need to fly the 767? Ive spent 10 hours
in a 767 simulator. Its a docile, easy-to-fly plane. But it has a sophisticated
flight-management system used for navigation. If youre not trained on
the 767s system, youd need the planes pilots to navigate for
you. Once a hijacker had the twin towers in sight, only modest flight training
would be necessary to maneuver the plane toward them.
Our nation has a long history of reacting to credible threats and
body counts rather than planning for unrealized but highly probable threats.
The thought of shooting down a commercial airliner may have been too horrifying
to contemplate, but it is something for which aviation authorities must now
plan.
More immediately, pilots need to be protected from potential attackers by more
than a flimsy cockpit door. The Israeli airline El Al has two doors separating
its pilots from the passenger section of the aircraft, as well as armed guards.
Those measures would have made Tuesdays attack far more difficult.
© 2001 MSNBC
FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of criminal justice, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.