Originally Posted by
Denti
Yes, we initially had the two crew rule but it was apparently clear we didn't need it, as door operation and identification was available from both pilot seats.
This must account for the United SOP, pre-Germanwings. Yet curiously, while more domestic airlines upgraded to Phase II and beyond cockpit door systems, the legacy procedures remained. Perhaps a mistrust of the technology in combination with incapacitation concerns drove the decision to keep the 'new' SOPs in place.
The current mindset to add a second crew if one pilot has to leave the flight deck is more that it is needed as a suicide watch than as a door operator or for identification. ......and have of course only a very limited background check as everything else would cost too much money. And now they are entrusted to keep the flightcrew in check and hold the lives of all on board in their hands.
When it is put this way, Denti, I now see and agree with both yours and other's concerns here regarding CC not being the best answer to this threat. Thank you, kind sir.
I think the newly imposed idea of a two-crew cockpit minimum is 1. knee-jerk on the safety side to be sure and not thought through thoroughly - typical government response - and for the airlines' role in this, 2. hysteria-prevention on the public perception side.