Re:It's Remarkably Easy to Lock a Pilot Out of the Cockpit
by rlpb on Friday March 27, 2015 @11:56AM
(#9277025)
> The radio is the most obvious addition that reaps benefits without adding risks.
What benefits, exactly? And why do you think that the pilot is really going to make a call to the ground, which won't save anyone, instead of continuing to try to enter the cockpit, which may have a remote chance of succeeding?
Re:It's Remarkably Easy to Lock a Pilot Out of the Cockpit
by anigbrowl on Friday March 27, 2015 @03:42PM
(#9278568)
You could do both at the same time, for one thing. For another, communicating with the ground also has a remote chance of succeeding - if ATC knows one of the pilots is behaving erratically they can communicate with him or her on that basis, instead of inquiring about whether there is a problem with the plane. Finally, while in this case there were no survivors, in other crashes there have been survivors who died of injuries or exposure because rescue workers didn't get there in time, because they were still looking for the crash site.
Re:It's Remarkably Easy to Lock a Pilot Out of the Cockpit
by Reebles on Friday March 27, 2015 @12:25PM
(#9277248)
I don't quite see how the radio would have had any effect on this incident.
The only thing I can think of is potentially getting a crisis negotiator on the ground to attempt to talk down the man in the cockpit. I guess thats something.
I 100% agree. The radio is the most obvious addition that reaps benefits without adding risks.
The cockpit should remain as secure as it is today. As inhumane as it is, the accident was a "best-case worst-case scenario." i.e. A bad thing that arose out of the best-case being not absolutely perfect (considering perfection may be impossible). If every human has equal probability of trying to take over an airplane to crash it, two people locked into the cockpit results in less likelihood than the numerous people in the passenger area. Even giving the pilot a way to let himself back in is a risk: someone could wrestle he access token/key off of him if he left the cockpit.
Possibly, the cockpit should be more thoroughly isolated from the rest of the plane. A door is not needed: a solid steel wall is. Nobody goes in or out while the airplane is airborne.