The Saracini Aviation Safety Act has passed the House of Representatives. The legislation, which is part of a multi-faceted bill including the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, now goes to the Senate for confirmation.
Ellen Saracini has campaigned for the Saracini Aviation Safety Act for years. The Act is named for her late husband, Captain Victor Saracini, who was the captain of United Flight 175 and was killed when the plane was hijacked by terrorists. The Saracini Aviation Safety Act would require all new passenger aircraft to have cockpit wire-mesh gates as a secondary barrier to cockpit access.
“More than 15 years after terrorists breached the cockpit of my husband’s airplane on September 11, 2001, our skies are still susceptible to similar acts of terrorism. It is my mission to work with Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick to ensure we are doing everything we can to protect the flight deck aboard our nation’s airliners because, without secondary barriers, we are just as vulnerable today as we were on that fateful day,” Saracini told reporter Tom Sofield.
