NEWS Flight attendants may soon be outfitted with wireless devices that would be used to alert pilots of attempted hijackings or other security threats to flights.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Wednesday that it plans to require airlines to provide a way for the cabin crew to "discreetly notify" pilots "in the event of suspicious activity or security breaches in the cabin".
The proposed regulation, which is not yet final, grew out of an advisory panel that the Transportation Department created after the 11 September, 2001 terrorist attacks. That panel recommended cabin crews have "a method for immediate notification to the flight deck during a suspected threat in the cabin" that would permit pilots to take appropriate action, such as beginning an immediate landing.
An FAA spokeswoman said some airlines have offered flight attendants that kind of alert system "for quite some time". But the FAA wanted to make it official, she said.
The FAA's proposal does not mandate wireless devices - which Congress recommended but did not require in the law creating the Department of Homeland Security. Instead, the proposal merely says passenger flights must have an "approved means" by which flight crews could signal such an alert.
Other systems the agency mentioned as possible alternatives to wireless devices include setting up an alarm procedure using an existing communications system, such as "subtly keying the [intercom] in a specific manner".
Public comments on the proposal are due by 21 November. After final approval, airlines would have two years to comply.
Declan McCullagh writes for CNET News.com
Comments
There are 3 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
Hijacks could be prevented very simply: build planes without a connecting door from the passenger cabin to the filght deck. The pilots enter the plane through a seperate door.
No, it wouldn't stop bombs, but 9/11 couldn't have happened like it did if the terrorists couldn't get into the cockpit, could it?
2. Douglas Bader.
As an amateur pilot I was once asked to assist the landing of a chartered airline on which I was a holidaying passanger.
This was due to both pilots becoming ill.
Had there been no connecting door who knows what would have happened.
Pilots need to take calls of nature and eat/drink too.
The best prevention is prior detection.
Do not come up with "safety" ideas than endanger in other ways.
3. David C. Hook
Individual, wireless, and discreet means of informing the flightdeck crew of a security incident in the cabin is vital. Each flight attendant should have the ability to provide time-critical security information without needing to rely on another flight attendant or being near the public address system. This wireless alert system would provide that 3-to-5 second edge to the cockpit team to go on offense, rather than playing defense.