The widow of Victor Saracini, pilot of the United Airlines jet terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11th, 2001, tells
Newsmax TV that cockpits are still very vulnerable to attack all these years later.
"Victor was taken and so was everyone else, taken because of a breach of the cockpit," Ellen Saracini said Friday to Ed Berliner on Newsmax's "The Hard Line."
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"A study showed that using the most robust form of protection the airlines can today — a flight attendant and a cart — the cockpit can still be breached in under two seconds, and for me that's unacceptable.
"I've taken it on as a mission of mine to make sure the cockpit is safe. Four airplanes came down on Sept. 11 … for one reason only, because unstable or terrorist individuals are able to get into the cockpit."
Saracini, whose husband was a former Navy pilot, is pushing for passage of the so-called
Saracini Aviation Safety Act, a bill that would mandate a secondary barrier to be put on every commercial passenger airplane.
"A secondary barrier is just a lightweight gate that would get locked into place, just during those times when the cockpit door is open. Once the cockpit door closes, the gates would be retracted and put back into the wall," she said.
"I reference it as a 'big person baby gate' because that's all it is. It's a simple, easy fix to make sure that what happened on Sept. 11 never happens again."
Saracini, a father of two, was piloting United Airlines Flight 175 when he was overpowered by terrorists who commandeered the jet into South Tower some 17 minutes after American Airlines Flight 11 was crashed into North Tower.
His wife says her husband was a loving family man who will never be forgotten.
"He was full of life. He had a contagious smile. He loved his family, loved his two girls," she said.
"A lot of times people do forget because as time passes, other things in life just take over.
"Somebody said to my daughter one time when they were interviewing her, they said, 'So this is your hard day?' And she said very poignantly, 'No, this is your hard day. Every day is our hard day.'"
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