Hijacking Cargo Planes Next?

I actually saw this yesterday, but didn't think too much of it. But Al Jazeera expanded on the story a little and offered an explanation as to how this might happen.

I don't think that this would so much a hijacking, as it would be a theft. To hijack a cargo plane in flight would be nearly impossible, as there are no passengers and the cargo is separated from the cockpit by heavy duty netting designed to hold back the cargo during high G-force events.

Now if they were trying to steal an airplane sitting on the tarmac in Canada, or Mexico, or in the Caribbean it probably wouldn't be too difficult as airport security, especially south of the United States, is lax. Sneaking onto the airport and stealing a 727 or a DC-3 wouldn't be a real challenge.

But the effects of crashing such an airplane wouldn't be all that impressive. The WTC and Pentagon were both so destructive because of the nearly full fuel loads on the airplanes. Stealing a relatively small airplane, which is what flies around North America, they would be running low on fuel by the time they reached their destination. A lower fuel load at impact means that they would need to be more accurate with their aim.

The idea of hijacking or stealing a cargo plane to use as a bomb is great for creating terror as it invokes the memory of the horror of 9/11. I don't see it as being a particularly practical or effective threat. The airplanes would be smaller than those used on 9/11 and would be nearing the edge of their range by the time they could actually be used as a weapon.

Does make for an impressive sounding threat though.