[geeks] gps on plane

[Mike F]

On Sat, 26 Jul 2003 05:44:01 -0400
Thomas Gallaway <tgallaway at comcast.net> wrote:
<snip> 
> Anyways time for the airlines to over-think some of their things. I 
> dont see many improvement after 9/11. Just more of a hassle.

This is really a point of contention for me. As technology has marched on
and commercial airliners have become more technologically advanced, issues
like these should have been solved. If airline avionics are so vulnerable
to consumer electronics, what's to stop the bad guys from exploiting these
vulnerabilities? I find it inexcusable that airlines allow their planes to
be so vulnerable to simple little consumer gadgets. Am I naive in thinking
that they should just put a big shield around the passenger compartments
and be done with it? Yeah, that would prevent such devices from working,
since the signals would be prevented from entering or leaving the plane,
but if it would make the plane safer it might be worth it. Or is this
actually a large technological hurdle, to provide such shielding?