Why in the name of God are planes still flying over stadiums?

This has bugged the hell out of me since two weeks after 9/11 when I went to the first Giants home game after 9/11 at Giants Stadium. For those unfamiliar with the area, Giants Stadium is in the NJ Meadowlands about 5 miles NW of Ground Zero. In fact, you could see the WTC from the stadium spiral staircases along with a view of the Manhattan skyline.

The first game after 9/11 there were State Troopers and soldiers in the parking lots with automatic weapons (strange scene - fans tailgating, drinking beer, cookouts, and guys with automatic weapons walking through), sharpshooters at the top of the stadium and the nearby basketball/hockey arena, fans having to go through metal detectors, no bags allowed into the stadium - YET:

Several airliners flew directly (or almost directly)over the stadium throughout the game. This past week against the Bears (arrghh!) the same thing occurred. I would estimate at least 20 airliners flew either directly over or damned close to directly over during the game.

How often this happens depends on wind direction. Since the stadium is close to Newark Airport and La Guardia is relatively close as well (not to mention Teterboro just a few miles away with smaller but still substantial sized planes) we were getting planes taking off from La Guardia and landing in Newark, headed west south west.

Am I paranoid or is letting planes fly over stadiums with almost 80,000 people in them totally fucking crazy?

Newark, JFK and LaGuardia in such close proximity, and Giants Stadium, Shea Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Meadowlands... I don't see how you can avoid it.

You would have to redirect air traffic by at least 35 miles in order to provide say 10 minutes for a fighter plane to intercept a passenger plane (assuming air speed of about 400MPH). Not really possible in most major cities. Even then shooting down a passenger plane over a city isn't a very good option. (Not that shooting one down *anywhere* is a good option). You have to prevent any potential terrorist from ever getting into the cockpit. Heavy, reinforced doors that under no circumstances are opened once boarding begins and after all passengers deplane and a good airline employee screening process are the only way to truly stop plane-as-missile type attack.

it's impossible to fly over anyplace that hasn't got a lot of people there. Yeah, flying a plane into a sports stadium could take out quite a few people at once, but so could flying a plane into the Indian Point nuclear plant (well, not quite as quickly, but potential for devastation is much higher from fallout). Yet, both are possible. The thing is, at any given time it is impossible to guarantee the safety of everybody. Having a no-fly zone over sports stadiums isn't going to change anything. If someone is intent on flying a plane into a sports stadium or a nuclear facility or even a large resort hotel their chances of success are pretty high. Wouldn't it be much more prudent to structure our foreign and domestic policy such that would make it so people don't have the desire to fly planes into things while at the same time taking precautions such as armored cockpit doors to help prevent someone from having the capability of getting the plane in the first place?

When aluminum confronts reinforced concrete, the concrete always wins. The worst you could expect beyond the immediate impact zone would be a disruption of the power grid.

Your stadium is likely under the ILS or published departure procedure. Planes on the ILS or published routes aren't 'the problem'. Hijacked planes are. I believe that all General Aviation aircraft are still required to remain clear of airspace over occupied stadiums, large gatherings of people, and power plants since 9/11. Before you trade your freedom to fly for a false perception of 'security', remember that more people die in automobiles than plane crashes by many orders of magnitude.

Long before 9/11, the rule has always been to fly at least 1000 feet higher than the tallest object within a one-mile radius unless the airspace is designated otherwise. The only exception is for takeoffs and landings where it is permissible to fly lower if doing so does not endanger anyone. That rule was not changed after 9/11 but a lot of airspace was reclassified to B (IFR only) and F (restricted, prior permission required) because of security concerns.

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