Airliner Cockpits Security Mulled

By MARCIA DUNN
AP Aerospace Writer

The cockpit of America's not-so-distant future may be barricaded behind a bulletproof and grenade-proof door. No one would open it, not even the armed pilots, until the plane lands.

"For us, it's obvious right up front that the cockpit now has to become a last-ditch line of defense to be held at all costs," said John Mazor, an Air Line Pilots Association representative.

"Nothing is off the table," he said, "not even guns."

The pilots' association is leading the charge to improve cockpit security after last week's terrorist hijackings that ended in attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The group's No. 1 priority is to replace the airliners' flimsy cockpit doors.

Al Prest, vice president of operations for the Air Transport Association, is a member of a cockpit security panel that is part of a larger airliner task force created this week by Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta. The cockpit panel hopes to submit preliminary recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration this week.

Prest said that before last week's carnage, airline officials believed society would not tolerate allowing a hijacker to kill "a hostage a minute if an airplane weren't put down at a particular airport or if the door was not opened. Now, post-Sept. 11, we'll have to re-evaluate that."

During a teleconference Monday, airline employees and representatives of the airlines and air industries discussed possible short-term solutions to the security issue. Suggestions ranged from putting webbing behind the cockpit door to entangle an intruder, giving pilots time to use a stun gun or other weapon, to leaving hot coffee on the burner during takeoff for use against hijackers. A flight attendant proposed the latter idea.

Prest said some options come down to deciding which risk is worse _ having passengers slipping on coffee during an evacuation, or having coffee ready to fling at a hijacker; allowing a cockpit door to open automatically when an air pressure differential occurs or installing deadbolts that would keep the door closed in a decompression with damaging results.

Most experts agree stronger cockpit doors and armed pilots could have made a difference Sept. 11.

"I've heard from a lot of pilots who would strongly say they would like to be able to have arms in there, guns, so if someone does break through, they're not defenseless," said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association.

The bullets could be similar to those used by federal sky marshals, breakable and capable of piercing a body but not the hull of a plane, Stempler said.

Current U.S. cockpit doors were designed for privacy, not security. The FAA requires the doors to be closed and locked from takeoff until landing, unless a crew member needs to exit, and to be breakable from inside the cockpit in an emergency. Cockpits are equipped with a crash ax, just in case.

Boeing has been working on a secure cockpit door for the past few years. TTF Aerospace in Tukwila, Wash., also is designing an armored door, originally meant to protect against air rage, and hopes to have it approved and in production within six months.

The preliminary price tag is $9
, about three times the current door cost, said TTF President Tim Morgan. Besides being bulletproof and resistant to hand grenades, TTF's multilayered door could withstand axes or other ramming devices but weighs about 35 pounds more than current doors, Morgan said.

El Al, the Israeli airline considered the gold standard for security, has reinforced cockpit doors, as well as armed guards. In fact, El Al planes reportedly have double doors with a vestibule in between that allows one door to close before the other opens.

"We clearly need a hard and protective door to protect against intrusion," Stempler said. "But to really make the whole process very secure, what we need to do is have the pilots in sort of a self-contained environment wherein they are behind a protective door, they have bathroom facilities, they have food, drink whatever they need. And once they're closed up in that cockpit, there's no reason for that door to be opened."

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On the Net:

Air Line Pilots Association: http://www.alpa.org

Federal Aviation Administration: http://www.faa.gov