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On the
first paragraph...
Yes,
the air traffic controllers do have a way to tell if a plane's being hijacked,
provided the pilot can start sending the transponder signal indicating
such.
However, in recent times, there has not been a hijacking in the US that
hasn't ended peacefully, so therefore there's a "hands off" policy. (Source: CNN
or one of the other networks that's been covering this, I've lost track in
all my channel surfing over the past 24 hours.)
Of
course, we can see, in hindsight, that this policy is bollocks.
Another point is that somehow, the transponders were switched off on at
least one of the planes. I'm not exactly sure about
communications.
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adam.johnson5@verizon.net
(vze2wmka@verizon.net)
It is said that whomsoever the gods wish to destroy,
they first
make him mad. In fact, whomsoever the gods wish to destroy,
they
first hand the equivalent of a stick with a fizzing fuse and
Acme
Dynamite Company written on the side. It's much more
interesting and it
doesn't take as long.
-- Terry
Pratchett, "Soul Music"
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I am still stunned about the disaster, it does
not seem possible.
However, a few things about it have got me
thinking:
Based on the information I have, the hijacked
jets were radically diverted from their original courses. Is it possible at
all that this was not detected by the US flight authorities? For example, a
jet from Boston due to arrive in LA. was diverted into New York with the
disastrous consequences. Seems to me US authorities knew that something was
amiss before the planes struck. A simultaneous hijacking of four planes should
have sent the alarm-bells ringing somewhere.
And what about the jet which crashed near
Pittsburg, what could have been its intented target? Based on its flight-path
somekind of guess could be made? Furthermore, as one of the passangers got a
cellphone message out of the plane before it crashed, there should be some
info on the identity of the hijackers, shouldn't there? Also the crash might
have been caused by insufficient flying skill of a terrorist pilot, or the jet
could even have been shot down by the air force. There should be some
eyewitness reports on the nature of the crash available in the news, should
there?
No doubt more information will become available
and these and other mysteries will be cleared.
Juha
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