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Automagic No-Fly-Zone Enforcement
An anonymous reader writes "SoftWalls is the name of an aviation project at UC-Berkeley that's developing a system for commercial airliners that establishes and enforces no-fly zones. Basically, through GPS, if a plane begins to enter a no-fly zone (eg, around a mountain, or over Lower Manhattan), an alarm goes off in the cockpit. If ignored, the system actively removes control of the plane away from the pilot and co-pilot to steer the plane out of the no-fly zone. The technology is intended as both an accident prevention technique and a deterrent to terrorists planning to ram a building. ABCNews recently profiled the project (with video) and also rode along with a working prototype built by Honeywell that successfully kept a Beechcraft from hitting a mountain."
Terrorists cause planes to crash due to bogus information sent to the GPS, simulating a no fly zone situation, and causing them to crash into buildings.
The FAA has been reported as saying "Yep, it's doing it's job, we couldn't see such a useful feature being exploited".
The FAA is also considering trained monkeies to replace the crew. Passangers, who will be given shock buttons, seems to enjoy this idea... far too much.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
Additionally, I have a problem accepting that jets would scramble fast enough to be able to do so...
No jets need to be scrambled to launch a surface-to-air missile - it's launched from the surface, and it goes to the air.
-insert a witty something-
Grandma is not in control of her new Windows XP box
...
:-)
Hell, Windows XP isn't fully in control of the box itself
I find it amusing that you illustrate your point about security with a Windows example
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash