Ground Control to Major Tom

Enough on Sarah Palin, let her get some much needed rest. So what that the RNC is supposedly sending up a lawyer type hound-dog to confiscate the missing clothesline. Anyway, there are now before us more pressing matters. The election is over and was truly that, an election. We were getting so use to the selection process. Having a genuine American election executed makes me want to shout with joy. Anyway, a whole lot of news worthy stuff went missing during the last month as Election Day came closing in. One particular news’ worthiness of interest may be a sign that we haven’t kept our “terrorist” guard up to strength. Occupied with other things I guess. Anyway, a commercial passenger plane flying towards Australia suddenly lost altitude and sunk like John McCain’s campaign. There existed no wind shear storms in the area. Turbulence was ruled out, as was any engine failure or mechanical failures. Now though focus is on the airplane’s guidance system. Everything on a plane is computerized. Gone are the good old days of analog radar and control, all now substituted by teensy-tiny micro-processor type digital computers. The same computers that control your laptop control huge airplanes. Most modern day planes have integrated control systems, computers tied to computers tied to satellite navigation systems tied to ground control to Major Tom. All these computers talk to each other and all provide a critical part of “safe flying”. It is a complicated infrastructure that up until recently has provided a very secure networking system. Not a single plane in the sky relies upon a single routing signal. When the threat of terrorist attacks became a reality, those in the know figured out ways to trump any disruption in the air traffic control scheme of things. Flying has been safe, all around, because of the dedication to keep it a safe mode of transportation. But terrorist’s work on a cheapskate like budget. So they find ways and means to deliver destruction no matter how hardened the infrastructure becomes. Anyhow, it is now realized that the plane that ran into trouble had a malfunctioning guidance system. The plane’s actual elevation was tricked wherein the autopilot went berserk in efforts to correct the discrepancies. But thorough checking indicated that everything checked out OK when the plane finally landed and ambulances were lined up to take the bumped around victims to local hospitals. The plane fell thousands of feet before the plane regained control and the pilots were able to stabilize the plane. But something occurred that rammed the plane towards a hard impact. It seems that the engineers and technicians checking out the instrumentation and electronic guidance systems noticed appreciable amounts of stray magnetic fields, minute residual traces that had an effect upon their testing instruments’ accuracy! So where did this stuff come from? Again, there were no known thunderstorms in the area either, a possible source of the stray magnetic leftovers. Now the experts are focusing on something of interest, something really scary. A laptop computer carries with it a very powerful battery. Some time ago, following 911, the TSA required travelers carry computers to turn the unit on, to make sure it was indeed a computer. This practice was stopped, as it was a joke and was indeed an un-necessary delay for the entire traveling public. Any carry on laptop computer could have an operating system that would boot up properly, but it didn’t mean anything of value in efforts to thwart an attack. At that time there was the scare that a laptop would contain concealed C5 explosives and the laptop could be used as a terrorist weapon upon the still calm blue skies. But C5 can be detected and is something that one doesn’t come across on E-Bay, lets hope not. Anyway, the terrorist, or somebody, has taken suitcase technology one-step closer to reality. Once again, the batteries in a laptop are very powerful. The lithium type - because of the chemical reactions going on inside - cannot be transported on a passenger aircraft, not in bulk fashion - as a few out-of-control batteries can cause a rapid fire. Nowadays, a typical plane probably has aboard several hundred laptops. And at 10-thousand feet, it becomes computer city in the air. And now that many planes offer convenience outlets, to re-charge computers, we have entered into another dimension with terrorist attack technology – our very own technology for the good about to do us harm. At 64 watts per hour sustainability, that calculates out to an instantaneous power surge of more then 1000 watts, out of that innocent looking computer! Computers work in micro-seconds, so the battery could be used along with the digital technology to deliver a real problem. It is plausible that a battery could deliver enough power to interfere with a planes navigation and control systems. It is called EMP, for Electro-Magnetic Pulse. It was discovered following testing of atomic bombs. When such a violent reaction smashes atoms to smithereens, an EMP is part of the fallout. It wasn’t a big deal way back when as analog electronics is not that susceptible to EMP radiation. But in modern days of digital low-level power technology, even a low power EMP could be disastrous to a computers memory. And herein this problem comes to light. It is very easy for a laptop to be secretly and un-suspiciously turned into an innocent looking platform to deliver a series of EMP discharges – radiation that could disrupt a plane’s navigational systems. When this EMP stuff was discovered, there came a whole lot of interest as destruction apostles found another thing to keep their low IQ’s enlightened, so our government and other governments experimented with this EMP stuff, allowing the experimental information to get out to the public, that it was feasible to produce a suitcase type bomb incorporating EMP technology. One that could disrupt communications, that was some 10-years ago. Things have become more hi-tech and smaller. With powerful batteries and powerful communication gizmos, like “can you hear me now” devices that plug into a computers Ethernet ports, the stage is set for some fruitcake nutcase to deploy this technology, as a weapon with the terrorists’ label of approval. And there is no way this type of attack can be prevented, unless the FAA and TSA ban laptops immediately, from going aboard a passenger plane. And it could easily be concealed away in baggage and perform the same destruction! One could set-up a computer and check it in as baggage, say in the “sleep” mode - conserving power - only to wake up at a predetermined time and start pulsing EMP destructive radiation. If this occurred when a plane was on a glide path trajectory to land, it could be disastrous. Take New York City for instance, or any big city for that matter. The skies around major airports are crowded with traffic. One wayward out-of-control plane could cause a domino effect, as there is just so much reaction time wherein planes can be re-stacked. And if the plane has enough EMP stuff causing misguidance, the entire corridor above an airport can become a major crime scene. It is a very serious problem! And with programming such an easy task these days, it is available technology that could easily render a plane helpless, wherein planes would just start falling out of the sky, it would cause the fear factor to once again take hold of reality. Bottom-line, can you imagine if right now the FAA and or TSA banned together to ban all laptops from planes, either as carry on or baggage? And there is no way that the TSA has employed enough specialists that could checkout each and every computer entering the no-thrill zone, through security. The only other way to make it safe, ban the computer’s batteries from accompanying passengers aboard a plane. That solves the carry-on problem. As far as baggage, careful screening could find wayward computers and make sure the batteries have been disconnected. Another way, new-age laptops that don’t really on batteries for usage. Wherein wireless power technology does the power duty, where the power level is so low that it could never render a blow to a plane’s navigational systems. There are solutions, but we must act now!

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