FAA Issues Cockpit Door Mandates
The Federal Aviation Administration on Jan. 11 published aircraft cockpit door standards to protect against intrusion and small arms fire or fragmentation devices, including grenades. The reinforced doors must be installed by April 9, 2003.
Provisions in the new Aviation and Transportation Security Act require FAA to set cockpit security standards for current and future airplanes with 20 or more seats in commercial service and all cargo airplanes that have cockpit doors.
The agency said that airlines will have an opportunity to install the doors during routine maintenance checks. The purchase and installation cost of an enhanced cockpit door is estimated to be between $12,000 and $17,000. The total cost to airlines is estimated to be between $92.3 million and $120.7 million over a 10-year period, including increased fuel consumption costs resulting from heavier doors.
Specifically, the rule:
* Requires strengthening of cockpit doors. The doors will be designed to resist intrusion by a person who attempts to enter using physical force.
* Requires cockpit doors to remain locked. The door will be designed to prevent passengers from opening it without the pilot's permission. An internal locking device will be designed so it can be unlocked only from inside the cockpit.
* Controls cockpit access privileges. Operators must develop a more stringent approval process and better identification procedures to ensure proper identification of a jumpseat rider.
* Prohibits possession of keys to the cockpit by crew members not assigned to the cockpit.
FAA is encouraging foreign civil aviation authorities to review the new rule and adopt comparable standards.
The agency also issued a Special Federal Aviation Regulation to require the same aircraft operators to install temporary internal locking devices within 45 days on all passenger airplanes and cargo airplanes that have cockpit doors.
The Air Line Pilots Association voiced approval of FAA's action, saying that the rule will replace the stopgap measures--deadbolts and crossbars on existing doors that the majority of airlines installed as interim protections.
"The retrofit of all those airplanes is a major undertaking," said ALPA President Duane Woerth, "but a necessary one, given the new terrorist threat."