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23 Comments

  1. On the theft of the Q400, I think your comments are misleading. The individual who stole the aircraft was employed there for over three years, he had passed background checks by two separate agencies, he was approved to work around aircraft, and that night he was working around aircraft on the secured side of the ramp.

    I’m not condoning his behaviors, but sometimes people just go off the rails. It’s happened before and it will happen again.

    1. So what exactly is misleading here? Your car has an ignition key. Most of these large airplanes have enough electronics on board that they could easily have some sort of access code or lock to keep unauthorized personnel from flying them. Do you lock your house at night? Security is a real thing. Just because it’s “never been done that way” doesn’t mean we should keep doing it the same way. Even the local heavy-rail commuter train has an access key to keep people from joyriding it.

      1. I agree HJL. I also know from experience that the investigation is just beginning. Short term corrective actions should already be implemented. Security measures should be a moving target so the public does not need to know specifics, just that security measures have been tightened up to prevent recurrence.

        I can think of a few simple process steps that could have prevented this event.

        1. @ThoDan
          The same way the access key on the local commuter train affects road safety or your door lock protects your house. A determined attacker can and will defeat any security measure you put in place, but having a lock keeps the more casual criminals (of oportunity) from starting. Once the lock has been defeated, you’re in the same situation, but the goal is to keep it from getting to that point. If the guy is assigned to handling baggage, then he should not have the access code/key to start a plane any more than the janitor on the local commuter train has the access key to start or drive the engine.

          1. @Hugh James Latimer

            Sorry, that wasn´t what i meant.

            I asked how this would/could influence safety or Regulation of the flight including start, Landing, moving on the Airport and such

          2. @ThoDan,

            Most small planes with manual controls have the ability to have the throttle and/or the yoke have a physical lock on them. Those have no effect on flight as they are removed for that.

            Most commercial planes have sufficient electronics on board that it is entirely possible to have an all electronic code that is entered when it’s time to move the plane. There is no reason that code can’t be issued to the pilot when he receives his orders to be the pilot of that plane and it could be changed whenever the company wanted it to be changed. Again, why would that affect a plane that is already in-flight. It could be as simple as locking the cabin door like you would while in flight too. There are lots of ways to accomplish controlling who has access to flight controls without compromising anything that is already in the air. It’s my understanding that most modern commercial aircraft are pretty much fly-by-wire anyways.

          3. @ThoDan

            You’ve been rebuked on this site before for not completing sentences and taking the conversation off the beaten path. I will ad my two cents, like a newspaper journalist writing an article in a manner to everyone can understand so should comments on this website be written so that you or any Commenter are barred from illustrating “that wasn’t what I meant.” Please write posts which everyone can understand in a logical and clear fashion. In other words cover all your bases before you post so you never need to give a rebuttal “so n so that’s not what I meant !”

            Thank you and God Bless.

          4. @Hugh James Latimer

            Thanks

            @Ol Granny

            English isn´t my native Language, i try to be as clear and understandable as i can.
            I´d no ctritic in mind, as i wrote Sorry, that wasn´t what i meant only to give the information of the fact and excuse for my mistake.

            Thank you

            Excuse my bad english, Please

  2. Following China’s practice of billing a person’s family for the bullet to murder undesirables, the US gubmint will probably bill the family for fuel for the chase planes.

  4. Q400 and similar(larger) aircraft do not incorporate a key operated “ignition” system. Can you imagine a loaded aircraft stranded at the gate because the prior shift captain put the keys in his pocket. A 15 min. orientation on start up and taxiing is all it took for this fellow. Another few hours on a home pc with flight simulator produced the joy ride of his life. Sit back and be fat, dumb and happy people.

    1. I would think that any modification to the aircraft would require higher level technical approval.
      I would make the support equipment less accessible. The young man used support equipment to turn the aircraft.

      One other thought is implementing a two man rule. How does one person have unfettered access to a commercial plane?
      It is still early in the investigation, I would think that Horizon and other companies would hasten to put short term corrective actions in place until contributing factors have been identified.

  5. “Commercial Turboprop Theft”

    I don’t think that more security is the answer here. The guy said he was “a broken man”. This should set off alarm bells in any Christian but I guess in the day and age of dot guv as savior we should worship the great saving power Washington instead of telling people about Christ.

    People who are Christian don’t steal airplanes and people who are Christian shouldn’t immediately turn to uncle sugar to make us safe.

  6. I agree that the time issue is further reaching than most suspect. I met a young lady a few weeks ago that couldn’t look at a clock and tell you what time it was, she grew up relying on digital clocks, and cell phones to inform her of the time. Most young young people today rely on their cell phones as time pieces.

    Now it’s the ham signal disappearing, tomorrow it’s the radio RDS cueing, and then most people won’t know what time it really is.

    You can’t use a sextant without the correct time, you can’t navigate flat terrain without time. If cell phone signals go out, lots of people will be clueless. One day, telling time will be a lost art.

  7. I live just a few miles inland from Ketron Island. The local sheriff reported that the thief was part of a “tug team” responsible for relocating aircraft to maintain/storage areas and that the two man team switches between driving the tug and steering the aircraft. I don’t know if this involves powering up the plane for the hydraulics but if so it gets him on the apron with a running plane. Half way there and just doing his job.

  8. re; Civil War

    I keep thinking, how would a civil war possibly manifest itself in this country now? How could it actually happen? After all, the last civil war had distinct geographic regions and borders. Left and Right are living right next door to each other.

    But then I watch something like, Lauren Southern’s documentary (Farmlands) about how white farmers have been persecuted by the government of South Africa, and are now facing open confiscation of their property without compensation. In the mean time, they’re being murdered by activist thugs, while the government looks the other way. And oh, by the way, its almost impossible to get a license to own a gun there.

    It all sounds very familiar; you have a Deep State that could care less about constitutional protections or rule of law, you have an out-of-control ANTIFA-like organization doing the government’s dirty work, and you have a disarming of the law abiding population.

    This is how you get a civil war.

  9. I don’t get it. We express anxiety over the true reporting (apparently) of one plane being hijacked resulting in the death of one hijacker. Yet we are essentially silent about being told the ‘Whopper of Fake News’ about the 9/11 hijackers resulting in 17 years of perpetual war in the Middle East.

  10. Commercial Turboprop Theft,

    Aircraft can lure young men to their deaths like Sirens do to sailors.

    There is this fantasy that untrained or drunk people can fly like a pro, do great flying, and will be rewarded for their efforts. with metals, promotions, and the love of a beautiful woman… The fantasy is perpetrated by Hollywood and sea stories. This kind of thing has happened before and will happen again. The problem is that in reality, once you get off the ground, there is no voice of Obi-Wan, Yoda, or Pete Sandich, to guide you to a safe landing, and the flight ends very badly.

    My Siren was a CH-46 in the desert after some drinking and too much Hollywood fantasy. Just as I got the blades turning, I was grabbed from behind, and duct taped to my cot until I slept it off. Another few seconds would have been fatal… My Sergeants decided that I had way too much free time and helped me overcome this problem with all kinds of additional duties, guard duty, mess duty, shore patrol duty, & latrine duty over the next year, I cleaned a lot of toilets… But, thanks to them, I survived and became a better person.

    It is important for those in command to put controls in place to prevent this kind of thing from happening, like what Odysseus did for his sailors. Besides the human cost, aircraft are expensive these days…

    George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have plenty of money to spend on gun control & tyranny. Maybe this young man’s family should sue them for leading their son astray, while helping to save the Republic… But, in the end, this young man should have known better and was unlucky enough to not have someone to guide him through this, and his only award is from Darwin…

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siren_(mythology)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_Awards

    1. “Shanna, they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let ’em crash.”

      “Let’s see… altitude: 21,000 feet. Speed: 520 knots. Level flight. Course: zero-niner-zero. Trim and mixture, wash, soak, rinse, spin.”

      “Mayday! Mayday!”
      “What the heck is that?”
      “Why, that’s the Russian New Year. We can have a parade and serve hot hors d’oeuvres…”

      “I’m giving the orders and we’re coming in. I guess the foot’s on the other hand now, isn’t it, Kramer!”

      “I flew single engine fighters in the Air Force, but this plane has four engines. It’s an entirely different kind of flying. All together.”

  11. RE; Rainwater harvesting video… I actually subscribe to the homesteadonmics youtube channel. He does a great job explaining his projects and harvests thousands of gallons of rainwater in AZ to live on. His entire system is really smart and efficient and I highly recommend his channel to see what he does.

    As far as the turboprop theft is concerned… I was amazed by the story because 4 days before I had finished reading “The Barefoot Bandit” about a teenager in WA state (Puget Sound/Ketron Island area) who stole cars, boats and 4 DIFFERENT airplanes! He was able to fly them away by just studying the flight manuals and watching How-to DVD’s. He crash landed all 4 planes and did damage to all of them to varying degrees, but he walked away from every “landing”. I can’t help but think that the thief might have been inspired by Colton Harris-Moore’s nefarious activities.

  12. @Anonymous RE:Time A bit different but on the same frame…I was at a resale shop and was owed $39. The teller was able to put a $20 and $10 in her hand but literally could not figure out how to come up with the $9 still owed, until her co worker told her what to take out of the cash drawer to make me whole.

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