Just imagine
“I say Nigel, this locked door policy thingee is just top hole”
“Yes Timmy, I must agree. One feels so safe being locked-in behind it. That said, it’s a bit of a dry old job today isn’t it ?”
“Yes, I should cocoa”.
“Say what Timmy, rustle up a cup of something would you dear chap ?”
“No problem skipper........“
Sound of a ‘bing bong’ in the cabin… interphone starts being used…
“Hello Tracy here, did you ring oh lord and master ?”
“Yes, hello Tracey, Timmy here at the front, any chance of a cuppa ?”
“Well as it’s you Tim......... I’ll give you a call you on the interphone when it’s ready.”
A few moments later….. sound of a ‘Bong’ on the flightdeck.
“Hello, it’s Timmy here on the flightdeck”
“Hi Tim, it’s Tracey here at 1 left, can you unlock the door to let me in with your drinks.”
“Certainly dwarling”........ ‘click’ ( sound of electric lock being released ) “come on in.”
‘Clunk’ <- sound of door being unlocked…. Immediately followed by….’crash, bang wallop, kaplomb kapow’, plus women & pax screaming,......... etc
“I say, what the bloody hell. Who the hell are yougurglegushssshshhhh” <- sound of Timmy’s throat being slit, with Nigels soon to follow – of course the flightdeck door is now securely closed, locking-in both the pilots and assassins - preventing any assistance from the cabin !
So, I’m sure that you get my point in as much that the ‘so called’ locked flightdeck door policy is really nothing more than spin for the benefit of passengers !
And precisely why do I say that ?
Well, it’s because for all manner of ‘operational’ reasons we – the pilots - continue to keep opening it, and every time that we open it we’re vulnerable !
I.e. It doesn't take too much imagination to realise that some slip of a hostie / steward will not be any match against several highly trained ruthless people intent upon murder – should they ( the terrorists ) choose to attempt to storm the flight deck at the moment of the flightdeck door being opened.
And there's the rub, i.e. unless the flightdeck door is locked ALL of the time, we are just as vulnerable as the pilots on the 911 aircraft ( whose doors were mandated, under the FAR’s, to be locked ) on every occasion that we open the door to allow entry / egress the flightdeck.
Nb. I’ll admit that there are some exceptions to flightdeck door configurations which might alleviate this ‘risk’ ( e.g. what ElAl aircraft have fitted ) but the vast majority of airliners do not have such measures in place.
And why not ?
Well, because it’ll cost a LOT of money – so it’s hardly safety at any price, is it?!
Also, and w.r.t making the flightdeck door armoured to the extent that it can withstand a ballistic assault - what a crock of **** !
I.e. If JohnnyT managed to get a gun onboard and he/she wanted to ‘waste’ the Captain, they’d simply go in the forward toilet, point their piece forwards through the bulkhead ( remembering it’s made of thin aluminium ) and pull the trigger……. where the real point is that the areas either side the ‘armoured flightdeck door’ are NOT armoured.!
The analogy would be that it’s akin to wearing less than one third of a bulletproof vest.
So who still thinks that these ‘supposedly’ well thought through Government measures are designed to positively protect the flight crew at all cost, as opposed to being spin' aimed in the direction of passengers’ need to feel safe, to say nothing of any need to make it appear that certain Government mandarins are actually dealing with the situation ?!
All in all the response and measures that we’re seeing put in place onboard our aircraft are just as useless as the light tanks parked on the ‘perimeter road’ of LHR or LGW........ all whilst Johnny Terrorist is parked ( several miles away ) in the back of an open topped lorry directly under the departure / approach paths on the M25 / M23 and sporting a sophisticated shoulder launched SAM.
One feels duty bound to say that the ‘security’ measures we’re having imposed on us are really nothing more than ill-conceived Government b’locks. (imho)