At 7:05 PM -0800 3/24/03, Declan McCullagh wrote:Or perhaps we'll see someone take a GPS-controlled small plane, which can carry 1,000 lbs, and turn it into a flying bomb or delivery system for something quite noxious. These planes can be rented by the hour at hundreds of small to medium sized airports around the U.S. Though I don't know if the autopilot is configurable enough to let an attacker program it to head to a certain altitude at a certain location and then bail out via parachute.
The simplest autopilots just keep the wings level. Almost equally common
are ones that can follow a radio location signal (VHF Onmi-Range (VOR)
usually). Altitude hold is less common, as are autopilots that can follow
an Instrument Landing System (ILS) in both azimuth and elevation.
In theory, one could set up an attack where the plane follows a VOR to the
target. If the payload is chemical or biological, dispersing it at
altitude might be what is wanted. Otherwise additional equipment will be
needed to crash the plane into the ground.
I remember hearing that airliners will eventually be equipped with autopilots able to land the planes, with perhaps some assistance from ground controllers. If memory serves, a 767 pilot claimed during a television interview just after 911 that the autopilot on the 767 (and being retrofitted to 747 and 757 planes) is precise enough to actually land the plane at an airport like JFK.
To check what's available for small planes, I just risked having GoogleNarc report me to the Thought Police and did a search on "autopilot cessna." It appears that the autopilots available today are capable of doing altitude changes, though not dives into the ground (not suprisingly). This would make it possible for a Cessna owner to bail out at a safe altitude and then have the plane drop in altitude and fly into buildings or a sports stadium.
(With obvious variations: detonating a large nail bomb at 300 feet, using a GPS system to trigger the release of a 400-pound jet fuel bomb with impact detonator, and so on.)
I'm glad I don't travel much, and not by air for nearly 3 years (with no plans short of a major family emergency to get me in the air). I don't think most of the world cares for our Pax Americana brand of invading and occupying and seizing oilfields, all based on crudely forged CIA documents and splutterings from the inept Colin Powell about how we have to invade Iraq in order to save Iraqis.
And I don't think the world is a very safe place. Sure, the chance of being caught in a nail bomb attack or a sarin release is less than the chance of having the Reich Security Forces do a "stop and frisk" and find some banned literature in luggage....which is exactly why I don't travel.
A lot of other people are also choosing to stay closer to home, too.
And this is why Mrs. Tom Daschle wants a massive bailout of her airline clients. As Benito Mussolini said, "fascism _is_ corporatism."
But as Cathy Young, former libertarian, would put it, "in foxholes there are no believers in free enterprise."
--Tim May
