Flight deck door

[mjc507]

I would be interested in hearing from all pilots on the subject of flight deck doors being more reinforced. Here's my question: What's the bloody point? Say your terrorist threatens to kill your crew and passengers unless you unlock the door. What would you do in this situation? One could argue that as long as the flight deck is secured you could land safely, but what pilot would land with all pax and crew deceased?

It's a tough question to answer, I'm sure. I am all in favour of having military personnel (in uniform!) sitting just aft of the forward galley. I would love to hear some of your thoughts on the subject. What happened on 11 September should never be repeated in any manner.

Cheers,

Michael

[leftseatview]

Hi mjc507
911 has changed all previously held ideas on how to deal with a hijacking.
the primary objective NOW,is to prevent a large jetliner from being turned into a manually guided missile.
Safegaurding potential ground targets has precedence over the life of pax and crew onboard.indeed the US Air Force now appears to be prepared for the possibilty of having to shoot down an Airliner which might have been taken over by hijackers,and was being aimed at a high profile ground target.
What the reinforced door does is BUY the flight crew MORE TIME and enable them to land at the nearest suitable airport.
So Provided all that the hijackers have manged to smuggle past airport security is a couple of handguns/knives.these new doors should hold out,till you land and the local SWAT team has had a go at them.
Once the hijackers realize that they cant gain access to the cockpit and gain control of the A/C flight path,they might want to reconsider how many innocent lives they may want be held accountable for, once they are captured.
Happy Landings

[OzExpat]

I have no doubt that some nutter, somewhere, will want to test the resolve of the flight crew by killing some cabin staff and maybe even some pax. But they won't be silly enough to kill a lot of them because they know that they'll need bargaining power on the ground, after the plane makes an emergency landing.

I suspect that the reinforced cockpit doors will be effective, but I'd hate to be one of the casualties in the cabin that proves the point! :ooh: :ouch: