Coffee vending machine I have not heard about yet. Toilet has been discussed for a time. (Remember when real aircraft had toilets on the flight deck by original design, Ah the good old days). I was told by another political aide that I would not like the ideas presently under consideration. Could this be the coffee machine and total isolation on the flight deck?
Still the same point though. I bet I can develop some way to jam any toilet door closed that you can design (with the other pilot inside). Perhaps we will go with exposed toilets and no doors to prevent this happening!
At our company we have had enormous battles to get decent rest facilities put on some aircraft because it was considered to cut into passenger seat space. The companies are going to love blocking off the forward toilet because the first class passengers are going to complain like crazy about having to queue with coach pax on a full aeroplane (by the way the last two legs I flew were one seat open on one flight and the other totally full. The flight after mine to the same destination was over sold).
My point is that of all the people in the world your own nation's pilots are the easiest to check for integrity. Most are ex-military, all have extensive work, education and residency records which are easily checked. Every pilot in the US is required to declare ANY run in with the law at his periodic aviation medical. We are tested randomly for drugs and alcohol abuse. Why should pilots be exposed to this almost obsessive suspicion when they are so obviously among the most trustworthy and well documented people in the whole population?
I see that Washington National Airport is to re-open BUT with much augmented security. One law for the rich and one for the poor. Tell me why, in a democracy, we should be saying that one level of security is good enough for the general population but another higher level is needed for politicians? Is it because the politicians know that the ideas they are proposing are only window dressing?
[ 03 October 2001: Message edited by: BOING ]