Why after the rash of HiJackings inthe 70's did we not adopt securing the Cockpits of american airliners.?

Question

WAS the 9-11 attacks preventable had we only done the rational thing at the time and are we ingnoring possible solutions today that may prevent future attacks on america .Do we have locking caps on all our gas station storage tanks or can some one simply drive up and open one and insert a timed device .
THIS is one of many areas america should be looking at and we seem to neglect the simple messures until it is to late .
HAD we secured the cockpits of all american airlines in the 80's 9-11 would never of happened .IT was prudent then as it is now to secure our gas staions and other possible targets .

Answer 1

They were redesigned to only allow opening them from the inside or with a key. They were not reinforced due to the desire to keep the weight of the plane down, besides the introduction of metal detectors was supposed to eliminate the risk of an armed assault.

Most gas stations have their tanks underground and the caps secured to prevent unauthorized access, but the security measure is more to prevent siphoning than to thwart a terrorist plan. They also aren't the best target to use for an attack, they explode spectacularly but the gasoline is so volatile the energy is lost in a thermal bloom.

I do however predict that gasoline depots or refineries will be targets, not just because of their size and ability to explode, but the economic cost will be felt at the pumps immediately and the environmental damage will be cripling both in terms of ecology and clean up.

The federal government realizes it is not in a position to protect or even identify all of the possible threats which is why they gave the responsibility the state, county and local OEMs to identify and come up witht a plan to protect and/or respond to incidents at the targets.

Answer 2

I understand where you're coming from, but I think the main reason the cockpit was never secured is because before 9/11, hijackers were either trying to get somewhere using a civilian shield or they were taking temporary hostages in order to get a short-term tactical goal. On 9/11, they had no intention of letting the hijacked go free or survive.

You are right, had we been as security minded then, we might have prevented 9/11. We might not have though. We're dealing with resourceful people bent on harming America, they'll probably find ways around the security measures we have in place now someday and the next generation of bloggers will be asking if we'd done such and such in the 00s this wouldn't have happened.

Answer 3

Hindsight is always 20/20. I think there was a catch 22. You want to have the cockpit protected but also be able to access the cockpit if high jacked.

I like your progressive thinking for today's gas storage tanks. I think that we should be able to booby trap the cockpits with a systems that isolates the cockpit, overrides manual controls and then gases the cockpit if high jacked. Cockpit door should unlock after gassing the hijackers. In addition we should have an extra pilot ride passenger on all planes like the air marshalls.

Answer 4

your question is thoughtful and sincere, we never thought in our wildest dreams, of anyone, anywhere ever using planes as a missle, yes Now we know -what ifs-should ifs and most of all we couldva had things set up different and just maybe that tragic day might have by-passed us, but they were beant on doing something horrific, do believe, if they had not done that with the planes they would have found a way to do something just as bad and cruel. we learn from our mistakes and hopefully as we look for answeres we can also regain some hope and faith in others

Answer 5

It would cut back on the media sensationalism.

TV needs a constant flow of exaggerated incidents. Safety is counterproductive to Network profits.


Go big Red Go

Answer 6

EXCELLENT QUESTION. BUT HINDSIGHT IS ALWAYS 20/20.