Originally Posted by akaSylvia
However, in those rare cases of pilot suicide/mass murder, there's not a single instance of a safe descent leading to CFIT. Why risk eight minutes of possible interference, listening to your co-pilot and ATC when you have control of the cockpit and could get it over with much quicker.
Very good question indeed!
But anyway, locked cockpit door or not, two pilots at the controls or not:
If one of the pilots is determined to kill himself and the passengers, it's more then probable that he will be able to do so.
Discussion about the need of a locked cockpit door are useless. One should perhaps be more careful about WHO is allowed to pilot an airliner, but then again it can never be guaranteed that someone perfectly sane, might freak out at the wrong moment.
I always need to laugh when I see airport security taking a bottle of water or Swiss knife away from a pilot! Utterly futile!