[Henry Longmore]

On the news last night it was revealed that two cousins, one of whom
was listed on one of the flight manifests, had received some flight
training in the US some number of years ago (2? 3? I don't remember
now).  They had also received some training (3 sessions) on a 727 in a
flight simulator.  The instructor, when asked, said it wouldn't be
hard to "drive" a plane once it was in the air, to a target.

Henry K.

 }Alexei, as a private pilot and friend to commercial pilots, i
 }think that it's really easy to fly such a plane (an airliner) once
 }it's airborne. The most difficult part of this is the landing
 }which requires excellent precision and a very good knowledge of
 }flight parameters (specific to each plane) and "switchology".
 }"Switchology", knowing what button to push and when, that's the
 }second most difficult part of flying this kind of aircraft. But
 }targeting a big building should be quite easy for pilots with
 }limited instruction. They just need to know a bit about the
 }cockpit layout, at least in order to disconnect the transponder
 }(which relays a code to Air Traffic Control ; there's an emergency
 }code for hijacking that the real pilot could have set on this
 }equipment).
 
 <snip>
 }Vincent