Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Books, Movies, Food, Wine, and Whatever -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Constant Reader who wrote (2104)	9/12/2001 6:17:18 PM
From: cosmicforce	Respond to of 51752

I think the topic was whether there was necessarily government support. While I agree that the person has to have some training, it doesn't have to be government-sanctioned training. Cockpit layout is readily available. *Microsoft* REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 1, 1999 -- Throughout its 17-year history, Microsoft Flight Simulator has kept pace with technology to offer the most realistic flight experience available on a PC. Microsoft today announced that this venerable simulation game has received the most comprehensive update in its history, adding more aircraft and scenery, as well as innovative new features that make Flight Simulator realistic enough to be used as a complement to formal flight training. For advanced pilots, Flight Simulator 2000 offers several new aircraft -- including the Concorde and the Boeing 777-300 -- as well as a global positioning system (GPS), and the Jeppesen Sanderson NavData database of navigation and airport information. The product also features a real-world weather system, allowing actual weather information to be downloaded from the Internet and incorporated into the simulation. wicat.com microsoft.com

To: Constant Reader who wrote (2104)	9/12/2001 6:31:10 PM
From: E	Respond to of 51752

Suffice to say, that the average person walking into a sophisticated jet cockpit would have a hard time identifying many (if any) of the amazing number of switches, screens, and gauges therein. I sincerely doubt finding and flipping the transponder switch is something that most people would be capable of (or think of) without prior planning. Boulevard's <<. Each of the aircrafts' transponders were disabled, which requires knowledge of secret codes that are different for each aircraft.>> seemed to me to imply help from the inside. And as he wrote, "This was a sophisticated, precise, expensive operation that required impeccable timing and intimate knowledge of procedures and machinery. It took years and millions of dollars to plan and execute. It seems unlikely to me that someone holed up in a bunker in Afghanistan could have orchestrated this without the assistance of a foreign government." So I was assuming a great deal of prior planning, of course, but not assuming help from inside or the assistance of a foreign government. We don't know yet, of course....