A Frontier jet turns over Lower Bucks County as it headed to land at Trenton-Mercer Airport on a recent summer afternoon.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick and Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer of northern New Jersey stood together at the Garden of Reflection September 11, 2001 memorial in Lower Makefield Wednesday morning to discuss a piece of legislation that has been stalled.
Following in his former-congressman brother’s footsteps, Fitzpatrick along with a group of Democratic and Republican lawmakers are supporting the Saracini Aviation Safety Act that would force airlines to install inexpensive, lightweight wire-mesh gates on commercial passenger jets to provide a barrier between the passenger cabin and the flight deck. It would allow the flight deck crew to open the cockpit door without risking someone with bad intentions gaining access to the plane’s controls.
The bill is backed by Lower Makefield resident Ellen Saracini. She has advocated for the change for years in memory of her late husband Captain Victor Saracini, who flew United Flight 175 before it was hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center in 2001.
“We have put on a fortified cockpit door. That door works great, but only when it’s closed. The problem is, during flight, it opens multiple times and it’s during those times that the same vulnerability exists right now as it did on September Eleventh. We have an easy, low-cost solution to make sure what we’re doing on our aircraft and for Americans is to make sure that I don’t have to look another family member in the eye of terror and say ‘I’m sorry, I knew there was an issue and we should have done something about it,'” Ellen Saracini said.
Congressmen Brian Fitzpatrick and Josh Gottheimer, Ellen Saracini, State Rep. Perry Warren, Bucks County Sheriff Milton Warrell at the press conference Wednesday.
Credit: Submitted
Ken Diaz from the United Association of Flight Attendants said flight attendants currently try to use beverage carts to slow down anyone who may try to rush the flight deck when the door is opened.
Despite having support from 61 Democrats and 25 Republicans, the Saracini Aviation Safety Act has not yet reached the floor of the House of Representatives.
Fitzpatrick and Gottheimer said the bill should be put on the floor.
“This is not partisan,” Gottheimer said.
A portion of the language of the bill made it into the House of Representatives-approved Federal Aviation Authority reauthorization earlier this year. It would require all new aircraft to have the protective layer, but has yet to pass the Senate.
