>As I say, I'm not a pilot, but I don't think that the controllers
>necessarily knew that a plane was hijacked just because they didn't talk for
>5 minutes or because the transponder was off. While I agree an off
>transponder would be noiced within minutes, the fact is that they do end up
>off or broken, and the first reaction of a controller is not that of a
>serious problem with the aircraft. More like "United 123, squawk contact
>lost- check transponder."
.........
>

They said on the news this morning that the air traffic
controllers knew something was happening, but they didn't
know what. One spokesman for the FAA this morning called
"again" for video cams to be installed in cockpits for this
very reason -[of course this has its own set of problems ...].

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