How realistic is the controller to airplanes problems in Die Hard 2?
To make planes crash, terrorists talk to airplanes and then the plan crashes.
However, the real controller cannot talk to the airplanes.
Moreover, later, they can through "secret channel". What is it?
This doesn't make sense.
Why the terrorists can talk to airplanes and the controllers cannot?
After that, why didn't the controllers use secret channels too?
Do airplanes have several secret channels? Are those enscrypted? Is it digital or analog? Can anyone contact airplanes?
I suppose if airplanes have open frequency, anyone should be able to contact the plane, not just the terrorists.
Also how come the terrorist can convince airplanes that the runway is 300 m below the real runway? Is this possible in real life?
Best Answer
There are several parts of the movie that are not realistic.
First of all, the Pilot in Command is solely responsible for the safety of the flight. They are in control of the flight, crew, and aircraft. Air Traffic Control can not issue commands. They can only issue information and clearances.
Secondly, aircraft radios work just like all other types of radios. The airwaves are completely open for anyone to use. Only the enforcement of communication regulations keep frequencies from being violated. A terrorist could scramble, block, or jam the frequency for everyone’s use. But, that would include their own use, too. They would not be able to hijack a frequency unless their transmitter was several times stronger or much, much closer to the aircraft than the transmitters of ATC.
Thirdly, aircraft are equipped with a digital messaging system to allow them to transmit and receive digital messages to and from ATC. They have a similar system to allow them to communicate digitally with their home office, flight coordinators, and maintenance personnel.
Fourthly, nothing located in ATC or used by ATC can affect the altitude of an aircraft. Except for the weather forecast (which was not shown to be altered). Changing this would be a huge red flag for the pilots.
Fifth, each pilot has a requirement to know how much fuel their aircraft would require to fly to their alternate landing site plus 45 minutes of extra fuel in case of an emergency. It is also a requirement to have the alternate landing site (often two sites) planned in advance of the flight. The pilot would be required (by company SOP and common sense, if nothing else) to make the decision to divert to another airport way before reaching this fuel requirement.
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