science · 20 May 1974 · 50 years ago
In 1974, a U.S. patent was issued to Gustano A. Pizzo (1926-2006) of Jackson Heights, N.Y., for his “Anti Hijacking System for Aircraft” (No. 3,811,643). It described an electro-mechanical system immediately aft of the pilots cabin to trap airplane hijackers. When activated a hijacker is dropped by trap doors through the floor into a net bag in the belly area. The hijacker's weight causes a draw cord to close the bag and also automatically open the airplane's specially-installed bomb bay doors. The encapsulated hijacker is dropped and parachuted to earth, where police, having been alerted by radio, await his arrival. On 21 Sep 2013, Pizzo was posthumously awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for Safety Engineering.
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