Two planes down, anti-terrorism measures in place?

The recent tragedy in Russia concerning the two airliners that crashed have already been rumored to have been hijacked, presumably by Chechen rebels hoping to disrupt the upcoming elections. Russia is no stranger to terrorism, and has a history of taking extreme measures when confronted with the threat of terrorism, and terrorist attacks. With that in mind, and the familiarity with the 9/11 could countermeasures have been in place to circumvent an attempted hijacking? Specifically something that would prevent using an aircraft in the manner of the 9/11 attacks.

The former Soviet Union airliners are for the most part obsolete by Western standards, devoid of the flight control, communication, and navigation, systems that are typical on current Airbus, and Boeing products. This disparity is more evident for aircraft doing regional service within the former Soviet Union. Aeroflot, subsidiary airlines, and private companies that have been realized with the advent of free enterprise have an abysmal safety record. The possibility of mechanical failure, contaminated fuel (since they departed from the same airport) or some natural phenomena cannot be discounted.

The more likely scenario is a terrorist act that failed to realize it�s potential, possibly by intervention of the crew, and/or passengers, maybe even on board security personnel. External intervention may have also been a possibility, the Russian military has had no qualms shooting down passenger flights. For those that just hate America and can�t wait to bring up the downing of Iran Air Flight 655 by the USS Vincennes, go here for more �ammo�.

My thoughts are on a more ominous possibility, that commercial aircraft could be modified to cease controlled flight in the event of a hijacking, to prevent 9/11 style disaster. This could be accomplished relatively quickly, be effective, and provide the government with plausible deniability. The mechanism could be linked to the transponder that would give the �hijack� code/alert, incorporating a five minute delay for accidental initiation, false alarms, or thwarted attacks. This equipment would be capable of interrupting power to the fuel pumps, and/or hydraulic pumps; thereby eliminating power and/or control; the plane will literally fall out of the sky. This may seem callous, and inhumane, but with the titanic effects of jet aircraft used in the 9/11 attacks, prudent to some.

Some would believe that it would be to difficult to retrofit a fleet of aircraft with such a device, and keep it secret; in the Western airline fleets I would agree, but I think that it could be instituted in Russia, and the break away states.

The case could also be made that aircraft randomly falling out of the sky is not a viable alternative, it does however negate the terrorist goal of focused attacks, with specific targets in mind; in hindsight four airliners seem a �small price� compared to the horror of 9/11. The question is whether the Russian security apparatus is inscrutable enough to take such measures.

*This post provides the FDA�s specified Percent Daily Value (%DV) of conspiracy theory, responding to it could lead to paranoid and/or delusional fits of ATS posting.

I actually posted something in the initial plane crash thread where I guessed that the terrorists in Russia were already aware of Russia's comfortability with lost civilian life for a greater goal and might have known they couldn't get the planes anywhere in Russia without being shot down so they just blew them up.

I like your theory, though, that they could have been remotely shut down or detonated by Russian authorities based on their own internal security procedures. How tough would it be to place a small amount of explosive on each plane designed to take it out of the air should it be hijacked? Not really. Would Russia do something like that? Maybe. If Russia had such systems in place, would they be willing to use them? Certainly.

Originally posted by chaosrain
I like your theory, though, that they could have been remotely shut down or detonated by Russian authorities based on their own internal security procedures. How tough would it be to place a small amount of explosive on each plane designed to take it out of the air should it be hijacked? Not really. Would Russia do something like that? Maybe. If Russia had such systems in place, would they be willing to use them? Certainly.

Explosives could be hidden on a plane relatively easily, but could be discovered, however, electrical wiring, relays, and componentry appears harmless, and it would be unlikely that its true purpose could be easily identified. Also a midair explosion could be considered a victory by a terrorist group even if something else was intended, but a plane crash that appears to be because hydraulic, or engine failure, removes the �message� of terror.

The decision process lies in the institution, and installation of such a system; the moment an alert for hijacking is initiated (a standard operation performed by the flight crew), the system begins it countdown, five minutes (in my scenario) later relays cut power to hydraulics, and fuel pumps. The terrorist event has been circumvented without communication with the plane, no decisions are necessary, and most importantly, plausible deniability is ensured.

The analysis of the crash sites for the two airliners continues, and evidence of explosives are now being disclosed.

Update.