Originally Posted by
bitterproffit
Can you imagine if he had not have been so skilled (or lucky) at taking off? Or lucky? The more you think about this incident, the more amazing it is that it ended with only one loss of life and aircraft.
Not really. The pilots of all of the other airplanes are looking out the windows and can see and avoid the stolen airplane. It is difficult to hit another moving airplane even if you are trying to do so.
Originally Posted by
bitterproffit
Why? Why couldn't an airline come up with a fingerprint access system for their planes?
It would require a supplemental type certificate.
https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cer...approvals/stc/
It would be an expensive process and cumbersome in the daily operation. Considering how rarely a mentally ill employee steals an airplane, the cost vs. benefit would be very high. And, what if the next mentally ill employee is actually a pilot, or mechanic, who's fingerprints would already be authorized?