pilot widow Ellen Saracini, announce bill to thwart terror tactics in 2013.
Credit: Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick’s Office
Legislation with local ties intended to stop September 11-style airliner attacks by installing secondary barriers in airline cockpits was reintroduced in Washington D.C. this week.
Republican Congressmen Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-8) and Democrat Steve Israel (NY-3) are backing the Saracini Aviation Safety Act [H.R. 911], which is named for Lower Makefield pilot Captain Victor J. Saracini. The husband and father died when his flight, United Flight 175, slammed into the south tower of the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001.
Advertisements
The legislation “mandates inexpensive, light weight wire-mesh gates to be installed between the passenger cabin and the cockpit door that would block access to the flight deck whenever the cockpit door is opened during flight,” according to a press release from Fitzpatrick.
Isreal called the proposal a ” common-sense step we can take to bolster the safety of pilots, flight attendants and passengers for a fraction of the cost of an inflight entertainment system”
“The bipartisan Saracini Aviation Safety Act is a common sense, cost effective approach to protecting the flight deck on commercial airplanes and provides a life-saving line of defense for pilots, flight attendants and passengers,” Fitzpatrick said.
Advertisements
Ellen Saracini, the fallen pilot’s wife, is supporting the legislation, as she did when it was first introduced in 2013. “It is my mission to ensure we are doing everything we can to protect the flight deck aboard our nation’s airliners because, without secondary barriers, we are just as vulnerable today as we were on that day,” Ellen Saracini said in a statement.
When the act was previously introduced, it received backing from pilot and law enforcement groups. However, airline groups have opposed the measure and said the choice should be up to carriers.
