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Access Codes For United Cockpit Doors Accidentally Posted Online (techcrunch.com)
According to the Wall Street Journal, the access codes to United's cockpit doors were accidentally posted on a public website by a flight attendant. "[United Continental Holdings], which owns United Airlines and United Express, asked pilots to follow security procedures already in use, including visually confirming someone's identity before they are allowed onto the flight deck even if they enter the correct security code into the cockpit door's keypad," reports TechCrunch. From the report: The Air Line Pilots Association, a union that represents 55,000 pilots in the U.S. and Canada, told the WSJ on Sunday that the problem had been fixed. The notable thing about this security breach is that it was caused by human error, not a hack, and illustrates how vulnerable cockpits are to intruders despite existing safety procedures. The Air Line Pilots Association has advocated for secondary barriers made from mesh or steel cables to be installed on cockpits doors to make it harder to break into, but airlines have said that they aren't necessary.
You joke, but you'd be surprised how much critical infrastructure is insecure simply because "Hey, nobody can get here anyway".
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
According to French and German prosecutors, the crash was deliberately caused by the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz.[29][97][98] Brice Robin said Lubitz was initially courteous to Captain Sondenheimer during the first part of the flight, then became "curt" when the captain began the mid-flight briefing on the planned landing.[99] Robin said when the captain returned from a probable toilet break and tried to enter the cockpit, Lubitz had locked the door.[29][97] The captain had a code to unlock the door, but the lock's code panel can be disabled from the cockpit controls.[7][100] The captain requested re-entry using the intercom; he knocked and then banged on the door, but received no response.[101] The captain then tried to break down the door.[16][77][102] During the descent, the co-pilot did not respond to questions from air traffic control and did not transmit a distress call.[103] Robin said contact from the Marseille air traffic control tower, the captain's attempts to break in, and Lubitz's steady breathing were audible on the cockpit voice recording.[97][104] The screams of passengers in the last moments before impact were also heard on the recording.[99]
After their initial analysis of the aircraft's flight data recorder, the BEA concluded that Lubitz deliberately crashed the aircraft. He had set the autopilot to descend to 100 feet (30 m) and accelerated the speed of the descending aircraft several times thereafter.[105][106] The aircraft was travelling at 700 kilometres per hour (430 mph) when it crashed into the mountain.[99] The BEA preliminary report into the crash was published on 6 May 2015, six weeks later. It confirmed the initial analysis of the aircraft's flight data recorder and revealed that during the earlier outbound Flight 9524 from Düsseldorf to Barcelona, Lubitz had practised setting the autopilot altitude dial to 100 feet several times while the captain was out of the cockpit.[107][108]
Well, if the terrorists are already in the cockpit, all bets are off. Obviously. Do you have a better idea?