On Thu, 20 May 2004 13:56:53 GMT, coustanis wrote:

Blue wrote:

I have a question that can only possibly be answered by real airline pilots
and pilots of the heavy oil-burners at that. Even they may not know - or
want to tell the answer.

I have heard that most if not all of the heavies now flying have special
equipment in them to thwart hijacking. The equipment that I am referring to
is not just an autopilot which is standard but additional mechanical devices
to completely remove control from the cockpit making it possible to take
control away from the flight officers and giving that control to an outside
pilot which could be in a following aircraft or at an airport or anywhere.

Hope a real airline pilot will comment on this question.

A remote controlled airliner has already been done. There's a well
known test
on an airliner in the desert.
The heavy was equipped with special fuel tanks and anti-misting fuel.
The idea was to try to reduce the explosion / fire hazard in an airliner
when it crashed.
So, they outfitted an airliner with this fuel setup, installed remote controll,
flew it and crached it into the desert.
The airplane flew well but the test failed. The fireball was spectacular.
There is a video around that's not too hard to get.

It really did not fly per se, it simply was run down the desert the the
landing gears were sheared off and it "flew" a short distance before
crashing. There was some obstructions in fron of it to assure that the fuel
tanks would rupture.

JakeInHartsel