Harmon Seaver[SMTP:hseaver@ameritech.net] wrote:

"Raymond D. Mereniuk" wrote:

...

I don't see where only a terrorist group backed by the resources of a national government could pull this off. A week or two for planning and a group of people who can keep their mouth's shut plus the most important quality, big gonads and a desire to die for a perceived purpose.

So right -- all these people talking about "it had to be a big, well funded, well organized group with lots of resources" are talking total nonsense. It could have been a tiny cadre of eight or twelve people with no more money than to buy some plane tickets. Flying a plane doesn't take a heck of lot either, once it's in the air. It's not even that hard taking off -- landing is the bitch. [...]

Harmon Seaver, MLIS

I noticed one data point which suggests that the terrorists on Flight 11 from Boston did not have the flying skills of a commercial pilot. CNN at one point showed the ground track of the flight (it was available on some website). The flight kept it's normal track (slightly north of west from Boston) until it crossed over the NY state border. Soon after that, it took a sharp left turn and headed south for NYC. But not a straight line - it was clear that they were following the Hudson River. So, they were using visual navigation. An experienced, instrument rated pilot could have flown a direct route to NYC, somewhat shortening the time his colleagues would have had to keep the passengers subdued. Further on the skills thing - at one time I toyed with the idea of getting a private pilots license, and even took a couple lessons. I found that the experience I had gained using a Flight Simulator program on a PC was invaluable, particularly for getting the hang straight-and-level flight, making coordinated turns, changing altitudes, etc, which are all the skills that the terrorist would have needed. This morning the local media here in Massachusetts were reporting that a bag for the flight which fortuitously failed to get on the plane was found to contain a Koran, "Islamic materials", and a videotape on flying commercial jets. Clearly, someone who was already a commercial pilot would not have needed the latter item. I sincerely hope that the remaining perpetrators of this atrocity are found and punished, but entertain no illusions that doing so will prevent future attacks. That can only come from a shift of US government attitude from "I've got the biggest stick", to one of non-interference. Sweden and Switzerland come to mind as prosperous, modern, western nations which don't have problems with terrorism. Our country should look to such successful terrorism prevention policies as examples.

Peter Trei