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Remote Possibility
Sam Aurelius Milam III Could the commercial airliners that were hijacked on September 11, 2001 have been hijacked by remote control? The first time that I ever heard that theory, it was justified by reference to performance limits. The justification went something like this. The Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft are controlled by computers. Even when an airplane isn't being flown by the "autopilot" and the pilots are actually in control, the computers on the airplane convert the pilot's inputs into electrical signals that are sent through wires to actuators that actually operate the airplane. The software in the computers contains performance limits that prevent things like stalls and excessively steep glide paths or excessively sharp turns. The advocate of the remote hijacking theory, whose identity I have long since forgotten, claimed that the airplanes that hit the World Trade Center towers far exceeded the programmed performance limits during their final moments of flight. That, he claimed, proved that the airplanes were not being operated by people inside the cabins of the airplanes. In normal circumstances, the software would have prevented such performance. He claimed the existence of anti-hijacking code programmed into the software that would allow someone with the right equipment and password to unilaterally assume remote control of the airplanes during a hijacking. He claimed that the software was written to bypass the programmed aircraft performance limits during such remote operation and, instead, allow the aircraft to perform to its actual limits. Thus, the airplanes were under remote control. It was an interesting theory. I've been able to verify some parts of it. However, it has a couple of flaws. The first is that I can't find any indication that the factory software contains the anti-hijacking provisions. However, I have more to say on that subject, later in this article. The other flaw relates to the allocation of priority between the pilot and the software. Unlike Airbus, with which the forgotten advocate of the theory might have been familiar, Boeing designs the control systems so that the pilots can always override the software driven controls by exerting "brute force" through existing mechanical linkages that are redundant with the software-driven controls. For example, muscle power applied to the yoke can overcome contrary software instructions to hydraulic servos, allowing the pilot to manipulate the actual flight control surfaces of the airplane. It was described in one document that I read as being similar to driving a car with the power steering unit out of service. That design philosophy gives the pilots of Boeing aircraft ultimate control over such things as throttle settings and flight control surfaces. There is, however, a remedy to that particular flaw in the theory. It's entirely feasible that modified or more powerful valves, pumps, or servos could have been covertly installed. Then the pilots would not have been able to overpower the software-driven controls. So, the theory still remains a possibility. How about that software? The Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft are, indeed, software-controlled airplanes. The technology even makes it possible for the airplanes to be flown by computers from shortly after takeoff through the landing. Not only that, the computers run on software that is loadable. Systems that are controlled by loadable software are the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) (757, 767), the Airplane Condition Monitoring System (ACMS) (Flight Data Recorder System) (FDRS) (767), the Airplane Information Management System (AIMS) (757, 767), the Cabin Telecommunication Unit (CTU) (757), the Digital Flight Data Acquisition Unit (DFDAU) (757), the Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) (757, 767), the Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System (EICAS) (757, 767), the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) (757, 767), the Flight Control Computer (FCC) (757), the Flight Management Computer (FMC) (767), the Flight Management Computer System (FMCS) (757), the Interactive Videodisk System (IVS) (767), the Interactive Videodisk System (video) (IVS) (767), and the Satellite Communication System (SATCOM) (757, 767). The functionality of those systems can be changed by simply load- For PayPal payments, use frontiersman@pharos.pricelesshost.net.
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ing new versions of the software, without the
necessity of changing any hardware. That can be done in just a few
minutes, often in no more time than it takes to turn an airplane around
for the next flight. The software is supplied on 3.5-inch diskettes
or on CDs, just like the ones that you use in your own computer.
The software can be loaded by anybody who can get access to the computer,
or Line Replacement Unit, as Boeing likes to call it, just like you load
software into your own computer. Software can be loaded onboard the
aircraft or it can be loaded onto a spare computer in storage. The
spare computer can then easily be installed into the airplane. If
some "mechanic" loaded software that had been modified to link the communications
functions to the flight control functions in the appropriate ways, and
to disable the responsiveness of the software to inputs from the pilot,
and if the appropriate valves, pumps, or servos had been covertly replaced
with more powerful units, then the idea of aggressively acquired remote
control of the airplanes becomes chillingly plausible. In that case,
someone in a van somewhere could very easily have gained remote control
of the airplanes without the consent of the members of the aircrew.
Given the abilities of modern communications systems, that van could have
been anywhere.
The scenario is made even more plausible because the airplanes apparently don't come out of the factory with a remote control feature built into them but with only the largely unacknowledged potential for such a feature to be covertly added. Since the feature doesn't exist, nobody expects it to be there. Consequently, there aren't any protocols or administrative procedures in place to control such a feature. It's the perfect combination of circumstances. The feature isn't there so nobody anticipates that it might be used. However, the potential for the feature is there. That potential can be exploited by any agency that has the means and the motive to covertly add it. The design configuration and the administrative control processes are perfectly arranged to receive it. There's more information and debate on this subject available on the internet, and elsewhere, than any normal human being is likely to examine. I advise all of my readers to locate and read as much of it as they can. Admittedly, I'm still researching the matter. However, my present belief is that the commercial airliners that were hijacked on September 11, 2001 were not hijacked by terrorists inside of the airplanes. They were hijacked remotely. The software was "updated", the servos were replaced, and the foul deed was done. I have one final aspect of the situation with which to deal in this article. That is the fate of United Airlines Flight 93, the airplane that crashed in Pennsylvania. Regardless of my previous opinions and statements addressing that event (see my article Last Faint Hope, November 2001, page 1), I now believe that the airplane didn't crash because of passengers overpowering hijackers. The passengers didn't have access to the hijackers. Those hijackers were probably having pizza and beer in a van or in a bunker somewhere miles away, while they played their video game of Crash The Airplanes with monitors and joysticks. No, the airplane crashed because the members of its aircrew, possibly with help from some of the passengers, were somehow able to defeat the remote control of their airplane but were not able to reestablish manual control of it themselves. Uncontrolled, it crashed. I grieve when I imagine their frantic efforts during the final minutes of the airplane's plunge to the ground. They were probably into every accessible part of the airplane, climbing up the walls as it fell earthward, trying desperately to reconfigure it's hardware back into their control. The people who tried to prevent that crash are fallen heroes. While I'm able, I will oppose the dark and evil forces that orchestrated the events of September 11, 2001. The memory of the heroes on Flight 93 is, alone, a sufficient reason. However, there are other reasons as well. Those same dark and evil forces have committed other atrocities, with other victims. There are also other aspects of the events of September 11, 2001 that I haven't mentioned in this article. Maybe I'll address them later. For now, what I've written here will have to suffice. For PayPal payments, use frontiersman@pharos.pricelesshost.net.
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Acknowledgments My thanks to the following: Sir James the Bold, SantaClara Bob, Lady Jan the Voluptuous, and Eric, of Delano, California. — editor
— Dropping Out
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