Netanyahu says a pilot on a FlyDubai flight stabbed another and apparently tried to crash the plane September 30, 2026 A pilot stabbed another pilot and then apparently tried to crash [the] aircraft carrying dozens of Israelis, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Passengers and crew subdued the attacker, and the plane eventually made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
This is hardly the first, second, third, fourth... time something like this has been attempted. Suicidal hijackings of airplanes are often successful: The plane crashes and all aboard die. On 9-11 the planes were used as missiles against specific targets. Nearly thirty years before that, hijackers threatened to target nuclear facilities — but settled for flying to Cuba, where they were promptly arrested. This latest event won't be the last. This was one of the few times the suicidal hijacking attempt was successfully defeated. Aircraft flown by airlines from Germany, Malaysia, China and military aircraft in the U.S.A. have all been intentionally crashed into the ground, into mountains, into the ocean... After 9-11, cockpit doors were reinforced (at no small expense in added weight and fuel usage) but obviously that doesn't prevent a crazed pilot from doing something like what reportedly happened today. And one doesn't need a weapon to overpower another person, so checking pilot's carry-on baggage more carefully than apparently happened might help, but is not a complete solution. Sure, everyone wants AI to be able to solve this problem (no more pilots!) but we're a long way from that as a reality — let alone a safe reality. (AI can do what it wants, that's the problem with AI. And, it has even less morals than your average human... because AI has NONE. And it's already proven that it can be malicious, too.) So is there a solution to this problem? Actually, not entirely. Just plain no. But there are a multitude of things the world can do to reduce the risk. Some might seem unrelated — but are useful anyway. For example, High Speed Rail (HSR). Getting from the center of city A to the center of city B should be as easy as grabbing a downtown bus (and not much more expensive). And come to think of it, AI programming for HSR is undoubtedly far simpler than for an aircraft! This would help by destroying the commercial aircraft industry. Less planes in the fleet means less opportunity for crazy behavior. Also, corporate aircraft need to pay their fair share in landing fees, excess-pollution fees, wasted resources (can't they use Zoom?!?). And with fewer commercial aircraft, those landing fees are going to skyrocket! GOOD! They can take the train like normal people. We'll even let them have a private rail car (for a fee...). But that only reduces the risk of an event by reducing the opportunities. It can be a very significant reduction, though: 95%? 98%? 99.9%? Not bad for making travel cheaper, easier, and safer for everyone! However, there is still the question, or problem, of targets. The twin towers are gone, but what's next on the next terrorist's list? As mentioned above, nuclear sites are expected (by experts, and by historical example) to be targets. And yet America is spending tens of billions of dollars to build "Small Modular" nuclear reactors (called "SMRs" by the media). But let's call them what they are: Targets. Each SMR, no matter that they are called "small", can devastate a city if the SMR is destroyed while operating, or after having operated for even a few moments, once. Once long ago, for that matter. Long-lived radioactive isotopes, short-lived radioactive isotopes, and everything in-between are created in massive quantities in order to produce the tremendous heat needed to turn turbines to produce electricity (or even just to direct-connect heat transducers to plutonium-238 for space missions. It takes an awful amount of Pu-238 just to light a lightbulb!) Right now there are 93 operating targets — pardon me, commercial nuclear reactors — in America, plus spent fuel sites, university reactors, military reactors in port and at sea, etc.. If we add the 1000 SMRs that are planned, and if we keep flying huge aircraft above them, there's going to be a match (or rather, a horrible mismatch) at some point. It might be intentional, but it might not. Planes fall out of the sky due to accidental mid-air collisions, loss of control due to hot-dogging maneuvers, mechanical failure, weather (cross-winds during landing, icing, lightening strikes, etc.), fuel loss, loss of orientation, pilot medical emergencies, etc. etc. etc.. Less targets equates to less chance of both accidental and intentional catastrophic events. Taking precautions that save money, lives, and the environment while making the planet more livable for everybody makes sense. Distributed renewable energy, high speed rail... these are just a few things that are safe, doable, and beneficial for society as a whole and for every individual on earth. by Ace Hoffman ###
Contact information for the author of this newsletter:
Carlsbad, California USA
Author, The Code Killers:
An Expose of the Nuclear Industry
Free download: acehoffman.org
Blog: acehoffman.blogspot.com
YouTube: youtube.com/user/AceHoffman
Email: ace [at] acehoffman.org
Founder & Owner, The Animated Software Company
