At 7:05 PM -0800 3/24/03, Declan McCullagh wrote: >Or perhaps we'll see someone take a GPS-controlled small plane, which >can carry 1,000 lbs, and turn it into a flying bomb or delivery system >for something quite noxious. These planes can be rented by the hour at >hundreds of small to medium sized airports around the U.S. Though I >don't know if the autopilot is configurable enough to let an attacker >program it to head to a certain altitude at a certain location and >then bail out via parachute.
The simplest autopilots just keep the wings level. Almost equally common are ones that can follow a radio location signal (VHF Onmi-Range (VOR) usually). Altitude hold is less common, as are autopilots that can follow an Instrument Landing System (ILS) in both azimuth and elevation. In theory, one could set up an attack where the plane follows a VOR to the target. If the payload is chemical or biological, dispersing it at altitude might be what is wanted. Otherwise additional equipment will be needed to crash the plane into the ground. Cheers - Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | Due process for all | Periwinkle -- Consulting (408)356-8506 | used to be the | 16345 Englewood Ave. [EMAIL PROTECTED] | American way. | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA
