In article , Home Guy "Home"@Guy. com
wrote:


What needs to happen is that fake "Transponder OFF" switches need
to go into these cabins so that when someone tries to turn it off
(why they even CAN be turned off is another issue)


It's a tough call as to how to make them automatic. I'd say that if an
interlock can be reasonably well engineered, that if the plane's wheels
are up, then the beacons are supplied by power that can't be turned off
from the cockpit.

I wonder if there is any reason they couldn't share a circuit with the
flight recorders since they already automatically turn off on the
ground.


Bulletproof passport checking requires real-time data and protocal links
to every conceivable authority in the world that can issue an opinion
about any given passport, and the cost to "subscribe" or participate in
such a network must have little or zero cost to end users (airlines,
airports) if stakeholders (gov'ts, law enforcement, societies) want to
experience 100% compliance everywhere.

And the zero cost includes not only access but also pretty close to zero
costs for airline personnel and equipment, and hassle. It would seem as
though you would pretty much have to mandate it by ALL airlines from ALL
terminals for it to possibly work. At least until the first time a
person isn't let on an airplane because somebody somewhere transposed to
digit or two on data entry.


For any of the above, it becomes a question as to how necessary it is to
turn off the plane's various transmission sources to render it
"invisible" from normal ground operations. Presumably the thinking is
that any plane that has been hijacked anywhere in the world for any
reason will be shot down as the primary response, so the best
countermeasure for the hijacker is to make the plane as invisible as
possible as soon as possible after the hijacking event has started.
But at least for most likely targets, we'll use the G-8 for short
hand purposes, the lack of a transponder would not make it all that
invisible to the military folks and lack of transponder alone would
probably bring out the fighters.
--
"Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive,
but what they conceal is vital."
-- Aaron Levenstein