Ok, so some joker thought it would sell some papers to 'expose a massive security loophole'. My guess... the most they've ever done is get drunk at college before getting a local paper job then eventually a slot at the Mirror. So they push the psuedo 9/11 angle and make it sound as if Guy Fawkes has been resurrected and might hijack a Jet Ranger over London. Which moron editor let this get to the presses, Mr Morgan?
I'll wager there's a good mass of the pilots, engineers and associated personnel who read this forum, who like me have served in the Armed Forces of their country. They, like me, will have a good idea what happens to a target on a range when a missile misses. Not much! We know that do do any significant damage, the explosive component needs to be as close as possible to the target. The bigger the target, the more explosive force required to do any damage. Thus, the explosive force that might be carried onto a light aircraft WITHOUT ARROUSING SUSPICION is realistically minute. Any terrorist is going to know this any is not going to risk the total failure of an attack by trying it.
My income comes from driving trucks. I have, on many occasions driven my vehicle around central London, past MI5, Parliment, BBC Radio, MoD, the Foreign Office, all lovely juicy terrorist targets. The reasonable payload of an artic can be put between 15 and 20 tonnes. Shame it's not sensational enough to highlight how easy it is to hire an artic with a fake or stolen licence, fill the trailer with home made explosive and drive it into town. Stop it on hazards outside Parliament, light the fuze and walk away to 'phone for recovery'. The blast would kill hundreds and probably cause a major collapse of the Palace of Westminster.
Anyone care to write to their MP and demand the banning of all traffic entering London given this loophole in security? Somehow, despite it being by far a more likely method of attack, I can't see it being sensational enough to warrant the interest of even the local free papers.
Just remind me... was it a truck or a helicopter that killed a load of US Marines in Beirut?