Trials have begun on the first hijack-proof airplane. The plans are being developed in Europe by a consortium of interests including French-based Airbus. The Project, called Security of Aircraft in the Future European in the Future European Environment(We assume that is to form the acronym SAFE).
This new aircraft supposedly would include microphones that will eavesdrop on passenger conversations, computerized cameras to detect suspicious movements, and a navigational system that will steer itself away from tall buildings and land by remote if terrorists kill the pilot. New cockpit doors will be controlled by biometric sensors, including eye and fingerprint scanning, as will the cockpit controls, thus if the pilot is killed, the plane’s control can be overriden.
We applaud the idea of installing more equpment to monitor the situation in the air from the ground. The lack of information on wha was going on onboard definitely contributed to the general confusion of 9/11. Transponders were turned off, limiting information to ground personnel.
A new avoidance system, already used on some aircraft to avoid mid-air collisions, will be the first part of the program to be installed on planes in 2008 and will judge whether an aircraft is being steered toward a target and change course toward clear sky…another good idea. There is a simpler alert system like this becoming available for cars that would alert a driver to possible obstacles.
Despite this, as we reported earlier this week, monitoring passengers too closely is a potential issue of freedoms. Of course, both this and the earlier research on RFID boarding passes are both European Union sponsored initiatives, although the technology is likely to be considered for the United States as well.
The Sunday Times reports that the issue of whether or not monitoring equipment will also be installed in the lavatory is hotly debated, apparently much more than bugging the main cabin. BAE Systems has commented there will be strict controls to prevent the crew of ground staff from abusing the system and that the microphones on board will be to monitor stress levels of conversations, not actual content. The recordings made would be required to be destroyed at the end of each flight.
Explosives detectors might also be built into the doorways of aircraft. The organizers of the project believe passengers will accept this intense scrutiny in exchange for increased safety that such a system might provide. The current system is definitely inefficient, but we are not sure such drastic measure are necessary. Either way, considering the loss in revenue airlines experienced after the August security scare in the UK, we are sure they would rather invest in airplane security than risk such delays and cancellations next time this happens.