Quote:
Originally posted by node
[b]I don't want this to sound like an anti-capitalist rant or anything but isn't it always about the money? It took 9/11 to convince Airlines to start installing reinforced cockpit doors
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Money had little to do with it. Reinforced cockpit doors were prohibited by FAA regulations. The FAA kept dragging its feet on the door concept. But then a reinforced cockpit door is a major engineering job. For example, what happens if the plane suffers a cockpit depressurization? Does the now sealed cockpit door collapse the bulkhead into the cockpit? Do the locks keep pilot and copilot from escaping after a crash? What happens during a fire. Yes even that is part of the engineering design.
Design News magazine addressed some of the problems in a cockpit door designed after 11 Sept in a rush to get FAA approval.
Some airlines had inquired on reinforced cockpit doors. But the FAA would not move. The only airline I know with reinforced cockpit doors was El Al - not subject to the FAA graveyard mentality.
Price was never an major issue but then you would be surprised how much a reinforced cockpit door can cost.
I keep citing FAA graveyard mentality. But then attempts to get a reinforced cockpit door was consistent with other FAA foot dragging. Money was not a bottleneck. It was the FAA.