Bruce after Wirt:

> >Rather than flood the cabin with "sleepy gas", all that really needs
> >to be done is to do the opposite: a rapid but controlled
> >depressurization of the cabin, perhaps to an equivalent altitude
> >of 20,000 feet,

> This is less attractive than it sounds. First, "almost immediately" isn't
> really all that immediate. The time of useful consciousness at 20,000
> feet is one to two minutes;  ...............
>
> Second, susceptibility to depressurization varies widely. A
> physically fit individual, especially one who knows about the
> system and has taken steps to prepare for the depressurization,
> can last many minutes or -- with suitable adaptation -- indefinitely.

IIRC ~1500-or-so (ROM) people attempt Mt McKinley in Alaska every
summer.  IIRC just under 50 percent or so make it.  20,320 feet ASL.
Very few if any (I don't know of any, but some might) climbers use
oxygen to summit McKinley.  Of course those climbers usually take
many days to get to the summit, so they don't go through a quick
transition.  A (very) few of the world's best climbers have made it to
29,129 feet on Everest without Oxygen.

I was with 3 other people at 18,000+ feet for about 15 - 20 minutes
in an UNpressurized turbo-Cessna (one of a kind) flying around Mt
McKinley;  and we climbed as fast at that little turbocharged six-
cylinder could go (weather down low was bad;  it was climb or go
back).  I would not have wanted to try and jog 200 yards, but just
sitting in the plane none of us had any problem (at least nobody had
any signs that anybody *noticed* (which may not be same thing) ).
All of us were I would guess in "average good physical shape", but
we certainly were not high-altitude runners or etc. either.  My GUESS
is that we could have gone to 20,000 feet in that plane for 10 - 15
minutes and not passed out (no:  NOT going to try it tomorrow).

> .....
> The same treatment, if extended long enough to incapacitate a fit
> hijacker, would be deadly to someone with breathing problems, ....

I personally know several people with various respiratory problems
that I expect would have died if they had been with us on that little
unpressurized 18,000+ foot jaunt around McKinley;  or at least come
very close to it.....   I think Bruce is right on this one...


> Given the likelihood that the hijacker's threats are either bluffs or
> relatively simply counterable by fighting back, this cure could
> easily be worse than the disease.

As Wirt said, no 100 or near-100 percent secure defense against an
offense that can pick and chose weak points can ever be constructed.
Even so, from my perspective at least two (may be more) relatively
easy and cheap things can and should be done;  "inside" the aircraft
envelope:

(1)   Reinforce and armor the door to the flight deck on airliners. The
Pilot's Association has objected to this in the past.  They just officially
changed their minds.

(2)   Arm the flight crews (not the cabin attendants).  ON BALANCE,
IMO the counter argument that hijackers might get their hands on
these weapons does not prevail.


And then together with the above two items there is the third and
probably most important thing;  that several people here and in the
public media have already mentioned:  I doubt that flight crews and
passengers on any commercial airliner flying in or to the United
States of America will ever again let themselves go like sheep to the
slaughter without fighting back;  if they face 4 - 5 - 6 or whatever
criminals with knives or even guns....  And remember that until now
the official policy of the airlines WRT hijackers that made it on to
planes with weapons or said they had bombs was essentially:  "We'll
take you anywhere you want to go."...   I think that just changed too...

Ken Sletten

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