Very interesting reading.
Has anybody thought of installing a cylinder of non-lethal knockout gas with nozzles in the air con trunking. F/A hits alarm and puts on oxy mask, flight crew hit big red button and puts on oxy masks, passengers and hijackers fall asleep. Alternatively an F/A has to check-in every 15 mins through hidden buttons. No check-in then flight crew make a coded announcement to remind cabin crew. No response, on gas.
I know that the gas ciculation could not be instantaneous but, given the power of an aircraft air con unit running at full chat, it could easily be rapid enough to incapacitate the hijackers in seconds rather than minutes. Ever seen how quickly people are incapacitated by smoke?
Obviously there would have to be safety interlocks and alarms plus possibly a ruling that one of the flight crew had an oxy mask on at all times (or at least take off and landing). None of these things are rocket science compared to the aircrafts existing systems.
It's too simple, it would never work ......
[ 19 February 2002: Message edited by: LowNSlow ]</p>