15 years after 9/11, a pilot's widow still seeks aviation security

Ellen Saracini, like many Americans, spent Sunday reliving and remembering Sept. 11, 2001.

On Monday, she will get back to work on making sure something like that never happens again.

Saracini is the widow of Victor Saracini, the captain of United Flight 175, which was hijacked and flown into the south tower of the World Trade Center.

Sunday's ceremonial services, the symbolic side to Saracini's devotion, happened at the 9/11 Memorial Garden of Reflection, the Bucks County monument she helped establish near the Yardley home she shared with Victor and their two daughters. He was 51 on the day he was killed.

The practical side to Saracini's work is in Washington, where her push for increased commercial airplane cockpit security has run into a legislative morass that is both typical and exasperating.

After the attacks, Congress mandated that airlines install reinforced cockpit doors to prevent terrorists from commandeering planes and turning them into missiles.

Saracini called that a "good step forward" for security when she and I discussed the issue and the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attacks last week on WHYY's "Radio Times" program with host Mary Cummings-Jordan.

But pilots still have to open the cockpit door during long flights, to take breaks, use the restroom, and receive meals.

Saracini, 56, said that leaves passengers on commercial flights "just as vulnerable as we were on Sept. 11."

There is a solution, known as a secondary barrier, which can be locked across the area behind the cockpit, creating a secure vestibule when the door must be opened.

"It's just like a big-person baby-gate," Saracini said. "It means the flight deck is secure, that no one can rush in and get into our cockpits."

Saracini explained how the current version of federal legislation that would mandate secondary barriers on new commercial aircraft - introduced last year in the House by Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick of Bucks County, and in the Senate by Sens. Bob Casey Jr. and Pat Toomey - is stuck in legislative limbo.

She'll try again when the new Congress convenes in January. It's called the Saracini Aviation Safety Act.

There is a serenity in Saracini's grief, a sense that the pain endures and so shall she. I would not bet against her. No chance.

"It's really a shame how Congress works," Saracini said. "The things that are important sometimes get overlooked."

Consider the players in this tug-of-war:

On one side is the Air Line Pilots Association, which calls secondary barriers a "cost-efficient, essential security layer."

On the other, Airlines for America, an industry trade group that, while holding that "the safety and security for passengers and crew will continue to be our highest priority," has said decisions about security equipment such as secondary barriers should be left to the airlines.

ALPA spent $960,000 on lobbying in 2015, according to Maplight.org, a nonprofit that tracks the influence of money in politics.

Airlines for America spent $5,340,000 on lobbying in 2015, according to MapLight.org.

The barriers cost $3,500 each. The in-flight entertainment system on the same plane can run $1 million. Cost isn't the issue.

"It is about the airlines not doing anything because they never do anything like this for safety until it is mandated," Saracini said. "It's about the lobbyists who are fighting. And they're very strong. It's about Congress' inability to move forward sometimes on some very commonsense legislation."

brennac@phillynews.com215-854-5973@ByChrisBrennan