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After the Germanwings disaster[0] and the near miss here, I wonder if it is time to re-evaluate the reinforced cockpit doors. Basically, every single passenger

After the Germanwings disaster[0] and the near miss here, I wonder if it is time to re-evaluate the reinforced cockpit doors. Basically, every single passenger on an airplane knows that if someone is trying to attack the doors or otherwise hijack the plane, you have to stop them no matter what. Even if the hijackers have guns or knives, you still have a better chance trying to fight them. On the other hand, a single pilot behind a reinforced cockpit door can bring down the entire aircraft. 0.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanwings_Flight_9525 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanwings_Flight_9525

FabHK 3y ago
Agreed. The difficulty of the trade-off to me indicates that we are near the optimum in aviation security (at least concerning cockpit doors).
United857 3y ago
Unlike Germanwings, this incident thankfully didn’t involve a single pilot behind a cockpit door. Most airlines banned such a scenario after Germanwings. Here, the flight deck was occupied fully and the two on-duty pilots were able to overpower the assailant successfully.
sokoloff 3y ago
Even without reinforced doors, blowing the fire bottles on all engines or nose-downing the aircraft at the end of the runway will bring down an aircraft if a pilot is intent on suicide, despite there being another pilot right next to you.
mschuster91 3y ago
> After the Germanwings disaster[0] and the near miss here, I wonder if it is time to re-evaluate the reinforced cockpit doors. And while we're at it, a host of other aviation "security" rules as well, particularly the liquids rule, the insanity of confiscating nail clippers, or the power-trips that TSA or its sometimes just as nuts European counterparts pull off.
- Tommstein 3y ago
  > . . . the insanity of confiscating nail clippers . . . . I fly with those all the time, never had them confiscated.
miloignis 3y ago
This is tangentially addressed in one of my favorite articles of all time, talking about the importance of strong encryption without backdoors: https://medium.com/@blakeross/mr-fart-s-favorite-colors-3177a406c775 https://medium.com/@blakeross/mr-fart-s-favorite-colors-3177... The point being, there is no perfect trade off, but that this one is much better than the alternative. In this case, I think most airlines have moved to the incrementally better trade off of ensuring at least two people in the cockpit at all times.

FabHK 3y ago

Agreed. The difficulty of the trade-off to me indicates that we are near the optimum in aviation security (at least concerning cockpit doors).

United857 3y ago

Unlike Germanwings, this incident thankfully didn’t involve a single pilot behind a cockpit door. Most airlines banned such a scenario after Germanwings. Here, the flight deck was occupied fully and the two on-duty pilots were able to overpower the assailant successfully.

sokoloff 3y ago

Even without reinforced doors, blowing the fire bottles on all engines or nose-downing the aircraft at the end of the runway will bring down an aircraft if a pilot is intent on suicide, despite there being another pilot right next to you.

mschuster91 3y ago

> After the Germanwings disaster[0] and the near miss here, I wonder if it is time to re-evaluate the reinforced cockpit doors. And while we're at it, a host of other aviation "security" rules as well, particularly the liquids rule, the insanity of confiscating nail clippers, or the power-trips that TSA or its sometimes just as nuts European counterparts pull off.

Tommstein 3y ago
> . . . the insanity of confiscating nail clippers . . . . I fly with those all the time, never had them confiscated.

miloignis 3y ago

This is tangentially addressed in one of my favorite articles of all time, talking about the importance of strong encryption without backdoors: https://medium.com/@blakeross/mr-fart-s-favorite-colors-3177a406c775 https://medium.com/@blakeross/mr-fart-s-favorite-colors-3177... The point being, there is no perfect trade off, but that this one is much better than the alternative. In this case, I think most airlines have moved to the incrementally better trade off of ensuring at least two people in the cockpit at all times.