One mans opinion.
I think the airline industry can go a long way to mitigating the dangers of skyjacking...
From my desk the solution lies with aircraft controls.
Autopilot, ILS (Instrument Landing System), Fly by Wire Systems, that are to be found on most modern all weather certified aircraft.
All moderately sized airports, have zero visibility automated ILS landing control systems established.
So what happens if an aircraft is under attack...
If the cockpit is under attack, flight crew push strategically placed emergency buttons located at various places within the aircraft, that once pressed are irreversible.
Only resetable externally, when the aeroplane is on the ground.
The system once actived relinquish control from the cockpit, including engine power fuel cutoff, etc and flight controls, to ground control.
Once activated the aircraft is turned over to ground units alone, who fly the aircraft to the nearest military, or secure airport available.
No further input from the flight crew is possible.
This I feel is preferable to having a pair of F16's fire missiles to down the airliner (condemning all to certain death) because the aircraft is no longer on its pre-approved flight path, or wondered off track.
Not to mention the ugly idea of a jet being blown from the sky, over densely populated cities.
I feel that Sky Jacking would loose much of its appeal, if it was common knowledge that the aircrafts controls could be immobilized during and emergency.
This then is my conceptual solution to the problem. I'm unsure why the FAA and TSA aren't working with the airlines to explore retrofited cockpits for ground control, but I feel the concept has at least some merit, and bares exploration.
Currently terrorists only have focus on defeating the Cockpit Door, and any lonely sky marshal, that might be on the flight. The locked door's not much of barrier or solution I fear.
Just in case you were curious...
Have you ever felt a really big bump when landing in an airliner, chances are you've experienced a manual (human) piloted landing.
The pilot officer in command had the choice of engaging the autopilots, Auto Landing System, and if engaged, you would have experienced a flawless landing without the bumps...
Pilots often prefer to fly the aircraft in fine weather to maintain their skills,
(So they don't get rusty).
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