I don't disagree Tinstaafl, in fact I agree, (Pedant!) While I dislike the policy expounded by the US (No negotiation, ) and probably they break their own rules too, in the end, the very end, no negotiation it has to be. People will die as victims of this policy, it may be me, it may be people I love, mostly we don't get to choose, it is, like the victims of war or terrorism, mostly random. In the very end it is probably the only viable policy. unless we want to be subject to everyone with the most minor grudge, ( or unless you have a way to remove all the causes of such grudges.)
There was a lot of debate in the eighties ( or was it earlier, it seems like last year as I'm getting rather old,) about cockpit doors and security. Like nearly all 'preventions' all the steps have to be in place.
1. Secure door.
2. Policy and procedure to maintain and use it.
3. Policy and procedure if terrorists gain the cabin.
4. Appropriate passenger screening ( and I don't mean the farce we are going thru now.)
I freely admit I did not foresee 911 but there are people whose job it is to foresee these things and ( with hindsight) it was not very 'unforeseeable.' They should have bitten the bullet. That ounce of prevention might have saved this pound of cure.
I was not questioning the stupidity of banishing flight crew or other screened personel, I even think appropriate other visitors should be allowed. Howerver it is manifestly stupid to fly with the cockpit door open all the time. Far too easy to walk up as though going to the head, take one step further and hold pretty well anything sharp under a pilot's chin and basically the plane is yours.
I miss the cockpit visits. My first was to stand beside Nancy in the pointy nose of a Dragon Rapide as we flew down the Thames and banked around the Tower of London on the 5 pound sightseeing trip from Heathrow. There was no security check for that flight, any way I don't think any one would have dared.