There has been a lot of talk about new security recommendations designed to make airline cockpits safer, and how to prevent future attacks. One suggestion includes installing video cameras in passenger planes. See The Monitor Device 7NEWS Investigator John Ferrugia has been looking into the technology that could make this possible. If this technology had been in use on Sept. 11, investigators could have actually watched a live feed of the hijacking as it took place, and may have gotten information as to where the planes were headed. Once the doors are locked and an airliner takes off, pilots have little if any idea what is going on in the passenger cabin behind them. But it doesn't have to be that way. "The pilots can view any kind of activity that is going on in the cabin areas," Digitron's Tony Ibarra said. Ibarra's Digitron, Inc. is a Denver company making a digital cockpit video system that, with a series of hidden cameras, allows pilots to monitor any disturbance in the aircraft from behind a secure door of the cockpit. "They are actually going to be able to view the situation with the cockpit video monitor so they can ascertain whether they can turn around or land the plane," Ibarra said. What's more, if the situation is serious enough: "This could be transmitted down to a ground based station such as the FAA or the airport authorities," he said. "We can use either the phone system that is existing, or satellite technology," he said. "And not only can we transmit the information such as video, but we can also transmit, for example, the air speed of the plane," he said. "We can transmit all the information that the black box technology utilizes and we can put it in the screen of the video," he said. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, Ibarra has met with two major airlines that are interested in installing the new technology in their aircraft. If the cameras had been onboard during the attacks, he says the FBI would have been able to monitor the hijackers, identify them and see their tactics firsthand. While the planes crashed, the downloaded information wouldn't. "It is storing that information for future reference. This digital technology has been available for more than three years, but up until now, the airlines haven't been interested," Ibarra said. But that has changed. With wireless air phones already on board, and downloading data no issue, airlines could have the cockpit monitoring system up and running in just a few months. The question is, will they?