'Soft walls' will keep hijacked planes at bay

New Scientist ^ | 7/2/03 | Anil Ananthaswamy

[RonHolzwarth]

Why aren't new planes designed with a separate compartment for the pilots?
For instance, the pilots in a jumbo jet could be beneath the passenger compartment, with no way for anyone to get through.
The pilots would then not ever be distracted by events in the passenger compartment, that would be up to the flight attendents.
AND, they would also have a much better view of the runway on take offs and landings!

[tkathy]

Separate compartments are a terrific idea!!!

[tm22721]

Actually the next threat is probably from a home made cruise missile flying at 100' that will take out the oval office or Capitol.

BUMP

[paulk]

Well lets see - for it to work it has to have power (snip with wire cutter) It has to have an antenna (snip with wire cutter or jam it) It has to interface into the flight control system (snip with wire cutter.)

If the plane is built so you cannot open the pannel, the system itself becomes a danger. What happens when someone hacks the system and crashes a plane into a building using the system itself?

This is just a stupid idea - I'm not surprised that pilots don't want to increase MTBF of primary flight systems.