I agree that the "remote control" concept is a dumbass idea. There could be no manual override for this, or the hijackers would use it too. Visualize hijackers hacking into this system and sitting around computers with cans of Coke and their feet up on the desk, piloting dozens of airlines into buildings. No thanks.

The authorities are flailing around, making nail clippers a crime, when all they ever had to do was simply put in place the kind of standard precautions that El Al has been using for years.

I have seen this story from a number of sources. The implication is that, disguised as off-duty pilots, the hijackers could have taken advantage of a long-standing tradition allowing off-duty pilots to ride in the cockpit as guests.

It is entirely possible that many of these planes had a hijacker already in the cockpit at takeoff.

If this is true, it may be that under these particular circumstances, no precaution, including bank-vault cockpit doors, marshalls in the cabin, or guns in the cockpit, could have saved these planes.

Obviously, this "guest pilot" stuff has to be scrapped. I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet. I don't know this for sure, but I'll bet El Al does not allow this.