If you’re a frequent flyer on American Airlines, you might notice a new procedure as of today for when pilots go to the bathroom. This will eventually be coming to some planes on all US airlines, but American is one of the first to actually implement this, so let me explain what’s going on.
Continue reading: American Airlines Now Uses New Cockpit Barricade For Pilot Bathroom Breaks
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Crew recieved training how to open and close binfolding door... yeah it does look very challenging. If they required special training for this, I am really curious how are they competent to do anything in the plane...
Ben is right that the benefit/cost for this is very low and this rule was undoubtedly pushed forward to keep safety always improving.
There are 20 year old widebodies that already have this feature so it was relatively easy to implement since most cockpits are "recessed" from the cabin, allowing a vestibule to exist around the forward lav.
And I believe most if not all US airlines require a FA or another pilot on augmented crew flights to be on the flight deck if a working pilot steps out of the cockpit.
bottom line is that the chances of a cockpit attack or suicide mission in the US just went down even more from an already very low level
There are undoubtedly other things that have been done to improve safety but this was fairly inexpensive and easy to implement.
United also have them on newer deliveries, someone posted a photo on Reddit of them using it on a MAX 9
Yes , it is necessary to have a Third Barrier of shoe-high ropes to trip anyone charging forward .
Will they install the same device at the back to allow their FAs to use their phones unmolested by pesky passengers?
The cost is low , but the benefit is high . Increase the benefit to very high , with a low rope to trip , while keeping costs very low .
Being very serious now folks, a question ….
Is the person in the video of typical proportions to those of the majority of female FA’s on U.S. airlines?
What you missed are all the drunk, crazy and idiot losers that have tried to get to the cockpit (or open an emergency exit) in flight. Since said losers are never really given an appropriate punishment rinse and repeat.
And the rest of the world looks at this with a sense of condensing amusement. Talk about regulatory enforcement of a solution to a problem that don't exist.
It is literally only on US carriers that the carts come out when a pilot have to visit the loo. And it has never been a problem for the rest of the world of aviation. ¯\_ツ_/¯
But is there any benefit? As noted by Ben there has been virtually zero flight deck intrusions/hijackings by unauthorized individuals with just the reinforced doors. OTOH lone pilots crashing the plane on purpose absolutely has happened.
This additional intervention sounds like a problem looking for a solution.
My point is if the benefit is high, the cost is comparatively low- the “benefit/ cost” ratio is high.
The original poster said had it reversed and said “low”, which would mean low benefit/ high cost.
As the name suggests, this is a secondary barrier, designed to protect when the primary flight deck door barrier, however reinforced it might be, is essentially non functional for a split second because the door is open.
Discounting its necessity because no successful attempt has been made in the last 20 years is a bit short sighted; the situation is rare but certainly not impossible.
Cost to implement is not as expensive compared to a lot of other commodities on the airplane, and certainly cheaper than having to say "well we wish we would have..." if something does happen.
Just a small FYI, You may want to update your story, as I've now been on a few United flights in which the door has been in use, all on MAX 9s, making them the second carrier to use them.
Frank, it matters not what you infer from the ramblings posted by Walter Mitty Dunn, he will argue against what you post regardless.
If they were really worried about security instead of security theater and cost, they should build lavatories inside the cockpits, especially on widebodies. That secondary barrier looks flimsy.
I’m sure some American and United flight attendants will see it as a new place to disappear, but the upside is that first class passengers might finally get some peace and quiet from the nonstop chatting.
Yes. Yes. Yes. The average weight of female food server is 198 lbs, or 90 kilos, or for those of you in South Wales 256 stone. Average weight of American female airline passenger is 256lbs.
Yes, United has been using them for many, many months. I've been seeing it on my flights since at least January of this year.
Yes I have seen them on new United planes for a while!
American and lead don’t go in the same sentence!!
'American is only the second major US airline to actually start using these, after Southwest, which started deploying them almost immediately after they were installed.' - Just saw this for the first time last week flying UA
United has these barriers 3-4 months ago on newer aircraft. Get your facts right before publishing inaccurate information.
I’m glad the rest of the world is amused. Except when a suicidal pilot locks the other pilot out of the cockpit and then crashes the airplane, which has happened at least twice only outside the US.
Other than that, it happens to be law (FAA mandate)that they are installed on all new airplanes delivered to US airlines. Something Lucky seems to be ignoring.
United had these on the 747 over 10 years ago. They were able to delay the rest of the fleet.
Everything old is new again. UA 747-400s had a secondary barrier and they've been retired how many years now? ISTR that (some of?) the UA 757s also had that barrier.
ClownDancer, thank you very for confirming that which others have mentioned. One was unsure of the validity of their claims due to inter airline loyalties.
Walter Mitty Dunn, has much to learn about how to answer questions from other contributors.